Authors Electric

  Not long ago the editor of a literary journal I hold in some esteem expressed interest in running a story I had submitted, while suggesting a few revisions. I know the drill. I sat behind that de s k for many years myself, Shari Lews and friends back when I was a magazine and small press editor–and even now, part time, as a contributing editor for a local quarterly. I read her email carefully, and with a mixture of enthusiasm and caution. I appreciated her generous praise for my prose and the care she took with her feedback. But I'm always leery about pulling on yarn after a sweater has been knitted.   As a editor, I learned to rein in my writing self and resist the temptation to snatch the pen away from a hapless contributor and show how its done – or how I thought it should be done. I learned that a good developmental editor – as opposed to equally vital copy editors and proofreaders down the production chain – encourages and guides more than corrects. That...