Guess what – I’m not perfect.
Guess what – no editor is.
And another guess what – no one is, not even the writer.
The editor and author team needs trust and humour. A whole lot of humour. How else do you handle the editorial comment of “Huh?” “WT__?” and other headshake comments.
How else does an editor react to seeing their own goofs? Goofs as in asking something only to learn the answer was right there in front of our eyes.
I hear you, you’re losing faith in your editor’s ability now. Don’t. A goof such as this isn’t worrisome because it does tell you two things (1) yes the editor missed the explanation and (2) why. Why did they miss it?
Editors, swallow your ego. Admit you missed and let it go. Or explain yourself better…why doesn’t the answer work. Why wasn’t it clear enough?
Editing is a pain in the butt. It gets tiresome re-reading and re-working the same story. It gets frustrating.
And when we’re tired and frustrated we’re more likely to get fed up, worn out, and even lose our patience then temper.
Tempers mixed with arguing never work. Even-headed discussions work better and laughter makes them easier…or at least understanding each other easier.
Your goals are the same. This is why I tell all my authors to get a dartboard with my picture in the bullseye. I’ll never know if they actually do or if they use it…then again they don’t know if I use mine either 😉