Gimme rewrite! Rewriting vs. editing

I like to worry about odd things. These thoughts usually come to me in that crease between falling asleep and being asleep. Sometimes the damn things actually wake me up.

The latest was the difference between re-writing and editing. Can writers edit or do they only re-write? If an editor does a heavy-handed job, is it really a rewrite? When does it reach a point that an editor deserves a co-byline? Should editors even be allowed to edit that much?

I worked one summer as a copyeditor at a ski magazine. The editor had accepted a freelance article that was so badly written I had to take a heavy blue pencil (yes, it was that long ago) to it. The story was as much mine as the writer’s. We should have sent it back to the author.

As a writer, I always re-write — probably too much. But do I edit my own work?

I know it doesn’t matter, but that doesn’t stop me from worrying about it.  I have to quit this post. The Muse just raised her head from the couch and inquired about proofreading.

Related posts:

1. Integrated editing
2. Writers and typographers
3. 3 things you must do right now
4. Same message repeated
5. What works, what doesn’t IV