By Eilis Flynn

No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else’s draft.–HG Wells

It’s the pain that every writer undergoes sooner or later. No, not rejection (well, yes, rejection, but that’s another topic), but editing. Self-editing is one thing, but being edited by someone else is a new torment entirely. So what is editing? What’s the difference between a line editor and a copy editor, anyway? Wikipedia gives a quick overview of all the different types (and all the types that could have a hand in your copy … sorry to alarm you):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editing

But being edited is part of writing professionally, whether you like the idea or not. Here’s why having someone else edit is necessary:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/61355/professional_editing_why_professional.html

And for those of us for whom grammar is either a long-forgotten topic from grammar school or the bane of our existence, “Fixing the Top Ten Grammatical Mistakes of Writers”:

http://www.wetnoodleposse.com/writerslife.html

And finally, on likening being edited to the stages of death (and incidentally, the pain of having one’s humor edited):

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2006/03/being-edited.html

Copyright 2006 Eilis Flynn