- 11/11/2012
- Posted by: essay
- Category: Business writing
Each time you sit to write, an editor finds a place nearby, complaining because your sentences are too long, your word choice too simple, the information all wrong. Sometimes this editor sits on your shoulder, desktop, or computer stand, his or her loud voice camouflaged as your own. You listen and respond, rewriting a word, paragraph, or line again and again. With each revision, the editor whines: “Nope, that one’s as bad as the last.” Or sometimes the editor speaks from your subconscious, wordlessly criticizing you at every turn, causing you to pause, rewrite, think, rewrite, and, against the hopelessness of it all, grow distracted.The editor can be one, or even two or more, people. Perhaps these people never saw your writing, never even discussed it. Perhaps they did. Most important, their impact rests on how they made you feel about yourself. Here are a few of the editors my clients and associates have told me about:
| • | Parents . Although parents undoubtedly affect their children in positive, life-sustaining ways, they can also be the most vocal and constant editors. Perhaps your parents’ expectations were too high — they wanted you to get A’s when you got B’s or to get A’s when you got A’s. Perhaps they compared you to their friends’ children, telling you openly or discreetly that you didn’t measure up. Or maybe they disapproved of or were indifferent to your best efforts. Whatever the case, they appear as your editors, critically watching as you struggle to make your point. |
| • | Siblings . The sibling-as-editor has two forms. First is the sibling who received better grades and won the teacher’s approval year after year. You had to traipse along in your sibling’s wake, trying unsuccessfully to be as clever and bright, or watch from afar as your illustrious sibling won every award, acknowledgment, and accolade. Or, you were the bright one, whom your siblings watched with admiration and dismay. As a grown-up, you have to keep up the momentum, although you long to limp along the lane of complacency, for a short while anyway. Your watchful siblings are the editors perched on your lamp shade, magnifying glasses poised to catch your mistakes |
| • | Teachers . The most obvious editor was also probably your firsta teacher. But don’t assume that English teachers are the ones who lurk nearby. Perhaps you had a coach who pounded you with negative messages. Or a math or science teacher who made inappropriate comments throughout the year. Their voices stuck, one octave above all the others you’ve heard throughout your life. |
| • | Bosses . The editor who creates the greatest confusion among businesspeople is the boss-as-editor. After all, most people in senior-level positions know how to manage and are experts on the company’s products and services. But — and this is a big but — are |
TRY THIS! Silencing the Editor. In one or two paragraphs, describe the editor who sits on your back or looms in the far reaches of your mind. Then, in the next paragraph, explain why you don’t need that editor. Keep this piece of paper with you. Every time you get blocked, feel your writing plunking rather than flowing onto the page, or feel frustration rising like a fever, read this paper. After a week or two you should write more freely. After a month, the editor should have moved away.
Here is an example from a client:
Editor: Without a doubt, my editor is my older brother, Roy. When we were growing up, he always did better than I at just about everything — he was a better basketball player and a better student, and he was more popular at school. Even now, I feel diminished by him.
Response: Roy and I have grown into very separate people with our own types of success. My job running a multimedia facility requires ingenuity and brains. When I have challenges, I overcome them. One example is our bid for the Lytronics job. Thanks in large part to my presentation — which I had to complete in less than two days — we got this million-dollar client. Roy’s position as vice president of RKE Development is important, but so is mine.
they really editors? The answer is usually an equally big no! Chances are you’ve had — or still have — a boss who ruthlessly rewrote your documents or insisted that you make vague and confusing changes. You complied, your boss’s critical voice resonating over the years until it snuggled into your process, as persistent and annoying as a cockroach, even years later.
Arbitrary criteria . As a child, you probably imagined the ideal person you wanted to be. Your ideas sprang from numerous sources: Barbie and Ken dolls, Superman comic books, and television shows ranging from Ed Sullivan to Mr. Ed. Mostly, though, you created an ideal self based on arbitrary standards that you gathered from your family, school, culture, and friends. Similarly, your internal editor insists that you create documents based on equally arbitrary and unattainable standards. It tells you that your opening paragraph isn’t fast enough, your voice isn’t friendly enough, and that proposal is nowhere near convincing enough.
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