We were nearing midnight, and one of my editors came to me with the sports column. He told me that something was wrong, but he couldn't figure out what it was. I read it and immediately realized the writer had a semi-local football player playing for the wrong team in Super Bowl III. That wasn't the only problem, but it was the main one.
I immediately called the writer, and it was obvious he had been asleep. I told him that something was wrong with his column, and he said to fix it. He didn't say it, but he obviously wanted to sleep. I said I wanted to sleep, too, but I wanted to fix his column. I read a section of it to him, and you could hear him perk up over the phone.
I wound up reading the whole thing to him, and we fixed it together, almost line by line. By now, he was wide awake and immensely interested. We got it fixed, and he thanked me. The next time I saw him in person, he thanked me again. Writers have rarely thanked me — they want to be praised, but they figure editing is my job — so I remember it.
This column had already been through two sets of hands before my fellow editor got it. Although he couldn't identify the problem(s), he got it to me. If he hadn't done that, we'd all have been in hot water, especially the writer and me. And since I was ultimately responsible, I would have been raked over the coals.
It took teamwork to get the editing done. And if I hadn't been insistent — yes, pushy — we wouldn't have gotten anywhere.
I wish my fellow editor had come to me earlier, but I had to thank him for saving my butt and helping get the column right.
Contact: Reach me at tgilli52@gmail.com or nc3022@yahoo.com.
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