What's Black and White and Red All Over?

DigitDiva via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Last summer, I went to visit my family over the Independence Day holiday weekend. My parents recently moved to a new neighborhood that has quite an active social life, and some of the residents there organized a Fourth of July celebration with trivia games, a potluck, and a photo spot that no one wanted to use (can’t win them all). I joined everyone for dinner and got to talking with several people I had never met before. One of them mentioned that she is in charge of the neighborhood association’s newsletter, and when she found out that I’m an editor, she told me about the red ink that used to be spilled on every issue. The red ink came from a former resident who, as a retired English teacher, would edit the newsletter. Her habit was to mark up every mistake until the document looked like it was bleeding.

As an editor, I was embarrassed. Gratuitous red ink serves no one and gives editors a bad name. We are not here to shame you for your mistakes. We are here to help you make your writing the best that it can be. Lots of markup on a document does not automatically mean better editing; in fact, good editors know when to leave text alone. Sometimes it is necessary to do heavy editing, but this is a choice.

When I edit, I always keep in mind:

• the context and audience for the document,

• the author’s style and voice, and

• whether the text works as is.

And I will make sure that you have used their, they’re, and there correctly. Without excessive red ink.