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The Real World
I have, for as long as I have known how to hold a pencil, considered myself a writer. As a child, I kept journals and wrote pseudo “novels.” English was my favorite class—the only one I actually looked forward to. Needless to say, writing was at the core of my being. I was good at it, and no one questioned that …

… until one day when I was 18. I was a freshman in college and enrolled in, what appeared to me as, a fluke of an writing class. I hated the professor; she seemed incompetent, and let’s just face it, she was mean. I loathed her assignments but usually excelled in them. Everything was fine, until one fateful spring afternoon. It was a Friday, and I was eager to find out what I scored on an assigned article. It wasn’t a topic I particularly liked but one in which I thought I did well. So, you can imagine that I, the student that always did well and prided herself in writing, was shocked when I discovered I got less than a stellar grade, along with a note that read “Are you sure you want to be a journalist?” I couldn’t believe it. I walked the half a mile from her classroom to my dorm room, fists clenched, face red, body tense. As soon as I got back to my dorm room, I examined the article. There it was, this brilliant piece of word art (or so I thought), saturated with her violent red pen marks: misuse of a comma here, wrong descriptive phrase there, unnecessary paragraph over here, extraneous verbiage over there—the list went on and on. I must admit I felt like Ralphie on “The Christmas Story.” He was so eager to turn in that paper, proud of what he had written and so disappointed when he got it back. I started crying, cussing, yelling and even stomping. Yes, I stomped. My behavior immediately reverted to that of a 4 year old, and I had a pretty self-indulgent temper tantrum. And after I calmed down, I did what any logical, passionate, aspiring journalist would do: I called my professor and asked her to sit down with me and explain my errors. Don’t get me wrong, her condescending remarks were a big slap in the face, but I was determined to find out where I went wrong. 

When I met with her a few days later, she admitted the journalist comment was uncalled for, but she stuck to her guns in shredding my article apart. It was a tough pill to swallow, to say the least, but in hindsight, I really appreciate that day. It was the first time I was surged into the real world of writers. I experienced what every writer experiences: those horrific moments of rejection, or worse, failure. Writers can be prideful, yes, but there will always be an editor that is going to rip your words apart. And there will always be that one you never forget, that one editor that really gets under your skin until the epic “aha” moment when you realize that she was actually right.

You see, this is how mediocre writers become great writers. It usually takes someone to point out your flaws before you can fix them. Sometimes, it’s from a respected editor and you professionally say “thank you” and comply. And then sometimes it’s from a callous professor, and you shamefully channel the outbursts of a toddler. Eventually though, you learn to take these moments of rejection with a grain of salt and move on. As a writer, we have no choice but to build some pretty thick skin.

I’ve worked for various magazines since then, and every time I edit someone’s feature story—or better yet, have someone edit mine—I am always grateful for that horrible, albeit beneficial, day.
Tags: writingediting
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tracijoy wrote:
Thank you Jennifer... Excellent reminder.
10/28/2009 1:16 PM PDT
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LisaMM wrote:
Thanks for this blog, Jennifer. I was published in literary journals before I made the foray into journalism. Admittedly, some of my earlier writings were simply dreadful. But the more I studied with various published authors and learned how to construct fiction in such a way that it *deserved* to be published, the better I became at the craft of fiction writing.

Evaluating one's own writing requires taking a huge step back, parting company with the almighty ego, and looking at it objectively, from the standpoint of an editor--and the readership. :)
10/28/2009 3:36 PM PDT
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CandiL wrote:
Great post! Thanks for sharing your experience.
10/28/2009 7:15 PM PDT
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Anna R wrote:
Oh MAN. I had that exact same experience in college -- I was so cocky, and this professor (who I really respected) totally took me to task. I cried, too... but in retrospect it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. Great post.
10/29/2009 12:25 PM PDT
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Johan wrote:
When I took my News Reporting class I got the biggest wake up call ever. My professor was very nice, but he held no punches with his red pen. We got to know each other pretty well throughout the semester. His red pen and I, that is. Eventually, though, I learned how to write more concise copy and am forever grateful for it, but man, those were tough times. At least I never got any GFE notes on my articles (Gross Factual Errors). That resulted in automatic F's. Not fun.
10/29/2009 5:34 PM PDT
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LisaD wrote:
Must be the journalism classes. I had a similar experience. Thanks for the post.
11/1/2009 4:29 PM PST
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DBacon wrote:
When taking over as editor of a small town newspaper, my first article was assigned by the exiting editor. I was horrified when he handed me back a printed copy full of red ink. By the time he finished, the story was not mine anymore. I understand syntax and punctuation errors should not be overlooked, but style, well, that's a horse of a different color - certainly not red! Great post. Thanks for sharing.
11/3/2009 2:17 PM PST
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Very nice post. I find it inspiring.

On another note, I am having difficulty with an article this evening and maybe someone in the blog audience can help. I posted this to the forum as well:

(Titled "Problem writing article 783326")

I had finished the article and clicked Submit for Review. Then the “Loading” symbol came up and I waited. It finally took me to a page that only had a Comments to the Editor box. I tried saving a draft and submitting for review, but I was given an error that said: “We're sorry, but you do not have permission to access this area at this time.”

Another time while I tried submitting this same article, I was taken to a page for a completely different article (something about Irfin fans or something) that I did not claim. I tried in Mozilla Firefox browser as well as Google Chrome now, but both give me the same problem. Strange.

I notice this evening a message on my work desk that says “We are having technical issues. You may still see blank articles or encounter unrelated titles. Please be patient while our tech team works to resolve these issues.” I wonder if this is the same problem I am having. I believe it is, but I'm not sure.

Please help. Thank you.
11/3/2009 6:35 PM PST
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SJPierce wrote:
It does hurt your ego when your work ripped to shreds during editing. My tough moment came for a Christian studies article I wrote for another venue. I forgot to take myself out of the teaching role, that I am so used to being in when I write about such things. My editor did not pull any punches with me and I succumbed to a sort of righteous indignation (lol).

After I got over myself I had to create a hybrid hat for myself to think like an instructor but write like a journalist. I was then able to see my article from the editor's point of view. Since then I have been able to write Christian studies related articles without sounding like I was giving a sermon.
11/6/2009 5:45 PM PST
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KayB wrote:
Not that long ago, I had a similar experience. I've been going to college online and mentioned in my bio that I wanted to write professionally in the next five years. My professor happened to be working for congress as an editor to the bills that are going through. He graded my assignments very critically but he also said if I ever wanted to get into that kind of work, to look him up. All in all, it was a very tough class, my ego took a hit and I was grateful to him for not letting me slide on things no one had ever called me on before.

Great post, and thanks for reminding me that there is always room to grow.
11/13/2009 6:08 PM PST