An Editing Job Improved My Writing a Former Newspaper Editor Shares Lessons She’S Put Into Practice As a Freelancer

Off the Cuff Linda K. Wertheimer An editing job improved my writing A former newspaper editor shares lessons she’s put into practice as a freelancer riters love to bash edi- three to four weeks or more may be a tors: “They destroyed the decent grace period. I was too patient lead of my story.” “They with one magazine, though. A story took out my favorite sen- submitted on speculation apparently Wtence.” “They cut the story in half!” landed in the spam bucket. When I I know those whines well. I used to checked on the story’s status three recite them myself until I spent some months later, I learned the magazine time on the Other Side. After 18 years as had never received it. a newspaper reporter, I became an edi- Editing involves far more than as- tor in 2004, overseeing a team of educa- signing and editing. The typical assis- tion writers at The Boston Globe. No tant city editor at a newspaper reports to longer would I share war stories with several bosses and works with several other writers about those darn editors. I departments; life for a magazine editor, was now one of “them.” I understand, is not that different. Story For three years, I coached and edited editors have to coordinate with editors other writers, then returned to writing. in charge of photos, graphics, and on- The editing stint gave me these invalu- Thinking like an editor can get your story line components. Most editors now not able lessons: on the right track. Polishing your work up only review a story, but also must review front will keep you and your editor happy. content of companion digital record- Leave your ego at home when edit- ings, videos or blogs. ing begins. Early in my career, I bristled picked out the word that fit best. They sit in meetings setting up story more than listened to editors. How could A reporter on my education team lineups. With budget cuts, editors over- an editor fault a lead I had rewritten at taught me how to become a better stu- see more people than ever before. Edi- least a half a dozen times? Why did the dent of the editing process. She took tors, like writers, have to prioritize. editor mercilessly strike out quotes? So notes every time we spoke, jotting down Stories due first get the first read. shaken at times by criticism, I fled to the ideas for structure and tightening. She Remember your readers. Every bathroom to hide my disappointment. circled back to me with questions as she morning, for three years, I sat in news After stepping into an editor’s shoes, revised, and she offered her own sugges- meetings and listened as each assign- it became easier to stick my ego on a tions—a gift to an editor. She sometimes ment editor rattled off her story list. shelf. Good editors, I realized, are col- shed tears out of frustration when a Then, the metro editor posed the big laborators, not story-destroyers. Noth- story needed work, but her tears were questions. Why should anyone care? ing is awry if a story travels between not about ego. They stemmed from a What does it mean to Joe Reader? Do editor and writer several times. Good determination to succeed. editors invest in a story as much as the Show respect for an editor’s time. I Does it add anything to the story writer. They want it to sing. used to fume when an editor took more line? Ah, it was so easy to trim The reality is that most of us do not than an hour to respond after I sent in get it right on the first try. We need my story. I met deadline. Why should I others’ stories. another set of eyes to check stories for have to wait so long? What else did an logic, flow and word choice. One of my editor do besides assign and edit stories? we really need another animal story? best editors showed me the beauty of I now give editors a reasonable wait- I learned how to play to the audience, using a thesaurus, a book I once saw as ing period before expecting a response. whether it was the readers of The Boston a writer’s cheat sheet. As an editor, I In the case of a newspaper editor, a rea- Globe or a magazine. My story pitches as sometimes pulled out the thesaurus as a sonable wait could be hours or a few a writer became more pointed, more rel- writer sat next to me, and together, we days. In the case of a magazine editor, evant. I practiced what I worked to in- © 2010 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permissionwww.WriterMag.com from the publisher. www.WriterMag.com • The Writer | 13 Off the Cuff still in the reporters I led. Research the that make me gasp for breath need the fore an interview, but I have a sense of subject before pitching a story. What most finessing. As a writer, my style is to what I want to ask and why. I review my was written previously? What do blog- let the words flow during that first draft. notes immediately and mark the high- gers say about this topic? If a story lands near the set length on the lights. I also create a separate document Readers of many magazines and first try, terrific. If not, then I become an and jot down notes about where I think newspapers love profiles, for example. editor again. the story is going as I am reporting it. But they also should have a reason to Find the focus of your story early, The biggest impediment to deadline read about that person at a given time. I so meeting deadline is a given. I began is often our mind-set. We get stuck on picked up the Globe the other day and my reporting career with the Associated the lead or obsess over the right ending. saw a profile of CNN’s John King, a Bos- Press, which has some of the shortest I still fall victim to time drains, but also ton-area native who has been a national deadlines in the news business. Meeting envision that night editor hovering at news celebrity for years. Why did the deadline has never been a major prob- my desk. Rather than miss deadline, I newspaper run the piece now? King had lem, but my skill at achieving deadline usually beat it. just been named to replace CNN anchor improved after time as an editor. Lou Dobbs. The profile, lively written, I remember clearly one evening dur- After stepping into an editor’s was timely. ing my time as editor: The night editor’s shoes, it became easier to stick The more a writer delves into a topic, face was stern. It was 8 p.m., and I the more a writer can drift away from should have sent the reporter’s story in my ego on a shelf. readers. As an education writer, I be- a half hour ago. The reporter’s story, came familiar with education lingo and though, came in at least an hour after Let others besides your editor take acronyms. When I became an editor our agreed-upon deadline and needed a look. Editors are busy, fallible and hu- overseeing education, I spent some time work. Scowling, the night editor stood man. Some have the talent to help a nudging writers to translate jargon into at my desk and ran through the litany of writer achieve incredible heights. Others conversational language aimed at every- how this late story would hold up first- can tighten but not beautify prose, while one, not just teachers, professors and edition production. others have great ideas and little else. administrators. I comb my own stories Copy editors need time to screen the Yet, most editors can teach each of us for jargon and upon spotting any, hit the story for style, spelling and grammatical something about improving our work. delete button. errors, and for flow. They need time to Now a freelancer, I no longer have Tighten each article as if you are grasp the story enough to write a head- one regular editor. So I apply one of the the editor. I was invested in the stories I line. Then, the slot editor must read the most important lessons gleaned from assigned to reporters and edited, but on- story, and the layout editor cannot hit my years as an editor. I create my own ly to a point. My ultimate priority was send on his page until the story is in. network of extra sets of eyes, including meeting the story length agreed upon by Deadlines are not arbitrary. Late stories fellow writers. In the end, I can only the writer, the top editors and myself, so cause problems for everyone. whine at one person if a story falls if deadline loomed, I trimmed quickly I worked with writers who were ha- short—me. and efficiently. bitually late with stories and helped A three-sentence quote? Two sen- them figure out what slowed them up. Linda K. Wertheimer tences can say it just as well. Three para- One reporter took gads of notes during Linda K. Wertheimer, a former education editor for The Boston graphs of background? Try two. The de- interviews and needed too much time to Globe, worked full time at newspapers for 20-plus years.

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