Mary Norris, Comma Queen, and my fraught love for copyeditors

Mary Norris, Comma Queen, and my fraught love for copyeditors

I vastly enjoyed Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, the memoir of New Yorker copyeditor Mary Norris. The pas de deux that the writer and editor dance together is lively and invigorating, because both want nothing more than for the writing to be perfect. But it’s a fraught affair, because your partner’s job is…

To write well and efficiently, choose the right level of editing
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To write well and efficiently, choose the right level of editing

Editing is like going to the dentist — nobody likes it, but you’ll avoid a lot of pain and ugliness if you get the right help at the right time. And you need to pick the right intensity of editing to match what your writing needs; you can’t fix a toothache with just a cleaning. Good…