Writing Tip: When an editor changes your work too much.

Time to be a pro!

A reader asks:

Have you ever had an editor change your work to the point that it didn’t feel like yours, anymore? It makes me so frustrated.

Alle sez:

Time for some tough love! If you want to work professionally as a writer, to be paid for your work, part of that success is accepting an editor’s final say in the matter.

I’m not saying it’s easy to do, this acceptance bit. I’m saying: it’s necessary.

If there are one or two places in the piece that I really disagree with the editor’s opinion, I write a short sentence or two saying “This is why I’m hoping to achieve with blah blah blah, but I leave the final decision to you.”

When I have done this, usually, it’s all worked out to my satisfaction. When the situation does not go my way, I accept the editor’s choice.