One day I received a call from an elderly lady in Tennessee. She had a manuscript she wanted a professional editor to put in the best possible shape before she submitted it to a publisher. She had never written anything before, she told me diffidently, but she was positive this material would be of great interest to a wide readership. She was friendly, intelligent, and articulate, and we chatted a bit, commiserating about the difficulty first authors have getting their work published.

I inquired as to the subject matter of her manuscript.

Somewhat shyly, she revealed that she was in possession of some important information concerning Elvis Presley. Intrigued, I asked her about its nature. She would rather not go into it over the phone, she said, but she thought I would find the material in the manuscript compelling. She was sure the information was accurate, because she had obtained it from Elvis himself.

"Oh, you knew him?" I asked.

She hesitated an instant.

"Not while he was alive," she said.

Trumbull Rogers

One night I came home and found a message on my answering machine from Scribner’s. Would I be interested in copyediting James Michener’s introduction to Hemingway’s The Dangerous Summer? My first reaction was "No, I don’t have time." I sat down at my desk and began working. Suddenly I metaphorically hit myself on the forehead: "Hey, dummy! Are you nuts? This is James Michener we’re talking about. Of course you’re going to do it." When I picked up the manuscript, they gave me the very photocopy of the Hemingway book that had lived in their files since the 1960s. It was quite a nervous-making experience walking around with what I thought the only copy; I was in constant dread of my briefcase being stolen.

Janet Baker

Jack Flynn is "a client like no other." After Janet copyedited his Naked Hearts in 1987, he sent her a letter that read, in part, as follows:

… I almost proposed marriage to you on page 249! To think someone actually went out and tried to verify Winnasooki, Wisconsin. I said this woman must become my wife. But it would be a stormy alliance. You would want to wring my neck every time I opened my mouth to speak. I apologize for my terrible grammar. I daydreamed through elementary school. Do you realize that every time I used which you changed it to that and every time I used that you changed it to which! I wrote a whole book without getting it right once. Think of the law of averages I defied. …

 

I could hear you scream every time I wrote a sentence without a predicate. Or with only a predicate. Or neither. Your purple ink runs thick over the page. …

 

By the way, who is this guy Webster III you keep referring to? Your boss or somebody? "Webster III says you can’t say this, Webster III says incorrect usage." …Tell him to read Finnegans Wake; that’ll shut him up for a couple of years. …

Ellen Sussman

One client who didn’t (and probably still doesn’t) know the difference between its and it’s stands out. I was constantly correcting his misuse, but he insisted on using each as written. He actually said, "I like it that way"! Finally he got his own desktop equipment and no longer needed me. Who knows what his stuff looks like now! But I was relieved not to have this mini its/it’s battle every few weeks.

John Matthews

Once I had to request from a publisher several Abraham Lincoln speeches. I waited for two or three months for the reply but heard nothing, so I called the permissions manager. The call was answered by the woman who was filling in until a new manager was hired. I asked her when I could expect the contract for the Lincoln selections, and she said that they had been forwarded to the author for approval.

---

And so it goes in the multifaceted, ever-changing world of the freelancer.

Postscript

These anecdotes were provided by EFA veterans and new members. Most practiced more than one skills: writing and editing or copyediting and proofreading, but there are many other combinations (writing and research, editing and production, indexing and editing, etc.). Many worked primarily for book publishers (text, trade, and reference), many other types of clients were listed, including magazines, corporate clients, religious publishers, the United Nations, translation agencies, churches and museums, newspapers, advertising agencies, and individuals (academics, business executives, prospective authors, and the like)

return to top