Vanity Fair has taken a jab at Sarah Palin by setting its editorial staff to work on her resignation speech. The point of the excercise from VF’s perspective, of course, was to further hammer home a point that has been made many times already — the speech had some issues. I’m posting their work here because it provides an excellent picture of what editors do, and how much an editor (or three, in this case) can improve text. So whether you’re a Palin fan or not, if you’ve always wondered what editors do, take a peek at this link. How much could an editor improve your printed materials, scripts, or presentations?
Archive for July 2009
Are you looking for a writer or a receptionist?
Note to Businesspeople: Hiring an in-house “writer/editor” who will also make bank deposits, do data entry, answer the phone, “design” your web site, make the coffee, clean the floors, book your travel, and pick up your dry cleaning will *not* result in very professional written materials or a very happy/long-term employee. Instead of hiring someone and tacking on unrelated tasks, why not contract out your writing/editing so you can only pay for the time you need but get a quality product?
Signing Off on Married Me: Article for the Globe and Mail
Here’s another article I wrote that was recently published in the Globe and Mail.
Signing Off on Married Me
Even the New York Times can be too Abstruse
Here’s a great article about the language used in the New York Times. The Times has to strike a tricky balance between satisfying its readers urge for high-brow language and using words that means no one understands what the writers are trying to say. Sometimes, they go a bit too far.
