Editing is not empathetic

My first author's day yesterday was awesome! It felt pretty exhilarating to come out of the narrow shell of academia and meet people working in the real world. My favorite meetings were the editorial meetings (good thing that I am an editorial intern), just because I actually love editing. (Yes, I actually get pleasure from editing. Hmmm, something tell me that I'll feel just fine with this internship). Well, more specifically, I like editing other people's works. Maybe, this is that cruel, hidden streak in me, because I feel no remorse in telling people they could fix this and that in their manuscript that they've poured their sweat and blood into for a long time. As for my own writing, I love watching it improve as I edit, but I have to admit that it's one of the most mentally painful experiences of my life. It's quite difficult to be objective with self-editing, because you are so personally invested in your own writing. But, I think we always forget that when we are simply editors. I think it's crucial to bring an objective perspective to editing a piece of writing, but we also easily forget that the piece is like the author's baby. If we criticize it ruthlessly, it's like insulting their child.

Constructive criticism is a way to not only make the editing process productive but also to take into consideration that it is decent etiquette to be respectful to other people's writing. It is just plain rude to say that something is crap without giving sufficient reason or ways to improve it. In a way, it's a tool for empathy, to connect with the authors in striving for the same goal of improving the piece of writing. But, the fact that I get pleasure from editing other people's works, because I have the opportunity to be objective and be productive with criticism, seems to distance me from the author's feelings. This is necessary for editing well, but it does show me that editing is not the emotionally kindest or most sympathetic act that one could do. But, I guess the karma comes when we have to edit our own works and pull our hair out.