This ran as a series of tweets on June 1, 2009:

                                                                                                                                           

If you don’t like my telling a story in serial tweets, take a moment to un-follow me.

I am about to do it again. (Though shorter – ten minutes, max.) Go ahead; I’ll wait.

When I told the story of my short career at the New Yorker on Twitter, assembled here:

http://www.danbaum.com/Nine_Lives/New_Yorker_tweets.html

A small commotion erupted over the role of my wife and writing partner, Margaret.

If you google “Margaret Knox,” you’ll find it: American Spectator, NY Observer, etc.

How we work is here http://www.danbaum.com/Nine_Lives/Knox_and_Baum.html

Some people took exception to Margaret doing substantial work without a byline.

(The same ones who found it “disrespectful” didn’t show Margaret the respect of calling her.)

The feminist implications drew all the heat.

But I think what gave the huff legs is many writers don’t get what a good editor is.

Most writers seem to think an editor is nought but a gatekeeper or a nuisance.

Somebody to decide your fate and then ruin your copy.

So they misunderstood the meaning of the relationship Margaret and I share.

They missed the importance of collaboration in writing.

Maybe some people write brilliantly entirely on their own.

I don’t know any any, though. And I’m certainly not one.

Back in the day, people understood the importance of editors – Max Perkins, etc.

Back then, editors edited. They engaged the copy. They made good writing better.

That’s what Margaret does for me. (I’ve been thrice blessed.

I’ve had great editing, in addition, at several magazines.

And the editor of Nine Lives was an energetic genius who really improved the book.)

There’s no shame in relying on an editor. That’s how it’s always worked.

You can get a sense, if you like, of what Margaret does for my writing.

On this page is my first draft, Margaret’s rewrite, and the way the piece ran in the NYer:

http://www.danbaum.com/Nine_Lives/Margaret.html

Not much difference between Margaret’s last edit and what ran in the magazine.

Many writers seem to devalue editors nowadays, to hold them in contempt.

Maybe good editors – ones who really improve copy – are rare because of that.

It may be a vicious circle: Editors are lazy or incompetent, so writers dislike them.

And that makes editors lazy or incompetent. Or maybe it starts the other way. . . .

Writers are full of themselves, besotted with the myth of solitary literary genius.

So they dismiss the value of editors, which in turn makes editors devalue themselves.

I don’t know.

All I know is, writers would do well to regain confidence in editing.

For one thing, the way Margaret and I work wouldn’t seem “offensive.”

Take it from us: With few exceptions, first drafts stink.

The magic happens in revision, and that’s a two-person job, at least.

I’ll put this on my blog, too. http://www.danbaum.com/Nine_Lives/Blog/Blog.html

But since this whole kerfuffle started on Twitter, I wanted to finish it here, too.

Over and out.