Hi Writers,
Well, this has been a rollicking debate, with impassioned comments from both sides of the perfectionism issue. Also, please check out the great back-and-forth on this from our often-amusing, occasionally brilliant WD forumistas. 

Please allow me to make a clarification on my post below, because I don’t want anyone saying the Writer’s Digest editor said it was okay to be sloppy. No. I’m referring to perfectionism specifically related to blogs and forum postings. If you’re submitting to an online publication, you always need to make your submission as perfect as it can be. We ran an article on this topic in WD “Cast a Wider Net.”

Here’s a quote from John Warner of McSweeney’s Internet Tendency:
I don't treat it [an online submission] any differently, though I suppose with online publications there's a greater demand to be timely or produce a piece in rapid response to events. I think sometimes writers mistake online publications for the minor leagues and don't always take sufficient time to polish the pieces they submit, which may be keeping them from having success.

And back on this issue of blog perfectionism, I’d like to throw out this stat provided by our New Media department:

• Resolution of a computer screen is 30X lower than resolution of a printed page.

I’m curious to know what percentage of bloggers take the time to print out their posts and proofread before uploading to the Web. My estimate: 0%. Since it’s a known fact that reading from a computer screen is more difficult, of course more errors are going to slip through—it’s just reality.

I’m going to devote more posts to online writing. It’s a medium evolving at the speed of light and writers need to set the pace.

Always aim for great writing. Always aim for clarity. And no IM-speak (unless you’re using it ironically). Keep the faith.

Keep Writing,
Maria

As all writers and editors know, in the publishing world, New York sets the trends and standards for the rest of us.

With this in mind, I was perusing The New Yorker this week, when I came across this article in The Talk of the Town "Lights Out"

The newest trend in publishing—remember you heard it here first (well, OK second) is—naps.

Here's an excerpt from the piece:

Peter Workman, the founder and chief executive of Workman Publishing, is known among his employees as a stickler for traditional business hours: his editors are expected to be at their desks every morning at nine, an hour at which many in the industry are still spilling crumbs upon Michiko Kakutani. In January though, the house published “Take a Nap! Change Your Life,” a how-to and why-you-should, by Sara Mednick, which argues that napping increases productivity  improves health, and encourages weight loss, among other benefits. After it came out, Workman was persuaded that his own minions ought to be encouraged to fall asleep on the job

“If it does work, why not us?” Workman said the other day in his office, whose bookshelves are filled with copies of “The Silver Palate Cookbook” and “1,000 Places to See Before You Die” and other books that his team had produced while not napping. Tie loosened and wire-rimmed glasses askew, Workman looked as if he had just woken up from a nap himself, but a can of Diet Coke and a jar of chocolate candies on his conference table testified to a dependence upon more traditional means of stimulation. (He has brought a pillow to the office but has yet to use it.)

First of all, can I just say that, wow New York, you have to be at work by 9 a.m.?! I can see why you must be tired (which I type from my office while sipping my third cup of coffee at 7:15 a.m.).

Having been in the position of needing to reach New York publishing types in the summer, I'm aware that New Yorkers in publishing work "summer hours" which pretty much means, no work so you can frolic in the Hampton and whatnot.

I'm just going to put an offer out on the table, so between your naps and your summer hours, the engine of publishing keeps moving through this long, hot summer: Farm your editing work out to Midwestern editors, who are not known to nap or observe summer hours. Just think about it: Smart, corn-fed Midwesterners who can fulfill all of your writing and editing needs. You can think of us as your own between-the-coasts Kelly Services. And you won't even be accused of outsourcing—we're American, too!

And by the way, we'd be happy to take on The New Yorker for the summer, also. Would you mind if we called it, just for the summer, The Cincinnatian? We're even willing to throw in a couple of pillows to seal the deal. Think about it. We're here for you.

Keep Writing,
Maria
p.s. You may, perhaps, enjoy Europe for your summer break. I understand they like to nap there, too.