Good news, big news, happy news: I'm going to be starting as an editor at the Religious Studies Center at the end of April, hopefully working there until I graduate. I am fairly sure this can springboard me to an internship at Deseret Book not this summer but next and then give me a fighting chance at a good editing career. One thing that concerns me, though: Why is it that "popular" editors seem obligated to be snarky?
See examples (some of which I think are hilarious but that I should still consider in thinking about this):
http://slushpilehell.tumblr.com/
We pull this up frequently during Leading Edge. Sometimes has great stuff, but can be underwhelming.
http://loveyourcopyeditor.blogspot.com/
Perhaps the most attitude-ridden editor on the internet. The stuff she posts is hilarious, but I often find myself feeling guilty laughing at the creations of others. They put work into it, and it crushes my soul a little bit to find so much enjoyment out of deriding their words. This blogger is pretty open about how snobby she is, even calling the kids at NYU she teaches editing to her future Snoots (which of course reminds me of one of my favorite essays about English usage, "Tense Present"). Compare her witticisms to this blog, however:
http://terriblywrite.wordpress.com/
I can't stand this woman. At least, I assume it's a woman. From the multiple posts she has out daily, it appears that she spends all day in the parts of the internet where the literati dare not tread, waiting to jump on meaningless typos published by Yahoo! Shine. Really, it's a website about celebrity hairstyles. That's just petty.
So, I guess my point is that I don't really want to be like that. I want to be a more compassionate, sensitive editor. I want to understand the people behind the work, even if the work isn't very good. This might be a tad idealistic, but I think we all need a little of that to keep us on track.
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