It was while teaching first grade that I learned how much
angst the red pencil on my desk caused for six-year-olds. Imagine the surprise
of a new teacher when red marks on paper caused eyes to well up with tears.
My way of correcting the problem was to mark papers with
a variety of colors and to save the red pencil for drawing stars and happy
faces. The students never said how this worked for them, but I soon discovered
the parents were quite happy with the change.
The editor assigned to me by my publisher must have been one
of those people who hated it when teachers “bled” all over their papers. She
had a complete color-coded system for editing. If she thought I should remove
something, it was highlighted in gray. Things she wanted me to review for possible
rewording were highlighted in green. If she had a suggestion regarding story
development, voice, word choices, or scene development she typed a message to
me in blue text. Red was the designated color for my responses. Maybe this
system was developed to make writers feel in charge of their manuscripts. After all, the
one with the red pencil is the one with the power.
Even without red corrections, I was sometimes a little
annoyed when something I valued was being questioned. Despite much pain during the editing process, it is
a good feeling when someone expresses appreciation for a novel in which they
found no errors. Thanks Jessie Sanders!
