[Ipg-smz] A question for everyone, particularly Esther Schindler

[Swapnil Bhartiya]

The worst thing is when failed writers become editors. Since no one will publish their work, they hijack other’s work. I have been lucky to work with some of the great editors.

From: Ipg-smz <ipg-smz-bounces at netpress.org> on behalf of Joe Stanganelli <rodeojoe at hotmail.com>
Reply-To: "ipg-smz at netpress.org" <ipg-smz at netpress.org>
Date: Friday, February 8, 2019 at 10:47 AM
To: "ipg-smz at netpress.org" <ipg-smz at netpress.org>
Subject: Re: [Ipg-smz] A question for everyone, particularly Esther Schindler

I can top that: On a pub that no longer exists, the copy desk removed a joke of mine (which, if that was the only thing they did, fine) and replaced it with a worse, shittier “joke” that made no sense.

It was so embarrassing that I never shared the piece on social, and distanced myself from it.

I don’t mind having my jokes removed; just please don’t change or replace them.

I’ve actually come to expect my editors to remove my jokes; these days, I’m surprised when one gets through.

One of the inventors of CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing is named Jennifer Doudna. In a piece I wrote a couple of years ago about patent rights surrounding CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing, I used the subhed “Doudna, Where’s My Cas?”

I was shocked and disappointed in my editor.

Joe

________________________________
From: Ipg-smz <ipg-smz-bounces at netpress.org> on behalf of Mac McCarthy <mac.mccarthy at gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 7, 2019 7:04:16 PM
To: ipg-smz at netpress.org
Subject: Re: [Ipg-smz] A question for everyone, particularly Esther Schindler

We had a copy editor at Infoworld, "Jill," who edited for space by deleting the last sentence in a product review. Unfortunately, that sentence was the punchline for a joke. When I complained, she simply replied, "I didn't think it was funny."

Editing can be maddening.

Mac

On Thu, Feb 7, 2019 at 3:58 PM Tom Geller <tom at tgeller.com<mailto:tom at tgeller.com>> wrote:
Oh, I have a good one about deleted ledes. (Getting deleded?)

For my 2013 Lynda.com<http://Lynda.com> video course "Writing Articles" (https://www.linkedin.com/learning/writing-articles), I (of course) wrote a dummy article to study. Then in a video that shows how to construct an article, I say:

"Then after everything else is done, go back and revisit that first paragraph to make it even stronger. One common trick is to simply delete that first sentence and then see if it's reads any better. A lot of writers, including me, need a sentence or two to get into the swing of things."

Sounds good, right? Except that the producers said, "O.K., do that. Delete the first sentence." I... hadn't planned for that. Luckily, the piece still worked without it. I schooled myself!

---
Tom Geller  *  Writer & Video/journalist  *  http://tomgeller.com
       Rotterdam, The Netherlands, +31 (0)6 87071468
            Oberlin, Ohio  *  +1-415-317-1805

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