Hello, WriteByNighters,
Speaking of heroes dying, it's no spoiler to tell you that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in a theater balcony in 1865.
(I defy you to write a more ridiculous segue!)
But five years earlier, Honest Abe delivered a speech at the
Cooper Union that many historians claim is the reason he won his party's presidential nomination.
In other words, it was a speech that changed history.
And yet, when it came time to publish the speech in pamphlet form, Lincoln had to first butt heads with an editor.
This info comes to us from our writer pal and loyal client Pete Greulich, who was reading an Ida Tarbell bio of Lincoln when he came across what he labels
this "little bit of editing nostalgia from the 1860s."
Long story short: The editor sent suggested changes, and Abe responded by writing, "You, not having studied the particular points so
closely as I have, cannot be quite sure that you do not change the sense when you do not intend it."
This was the 1860s version of "Get outta here with that sh*t."
Abe goes on to list the editor's "considerable blunders." Something we've all wanted to do at one time or another.
Or maybe it's something we actually have done?
We want to hear about your most ridiculous interaction with an editor. What led to it, what happened during it, and what was the aftermath?
