The editor from Echelon eShorts just requested an edit on a science fiction short story, “Assassins,” I submitted to her earlier this fall.
This is good news! Writers need to remember when an editor likes your story (or poem or article or book) enough to spend her time editing your words, it’s a compliment. I know it’s difficult to change or shorten your story, but good editors know what a reader needs. And a good editor is always editing for the reader.
“But it’s my story,” many writers say. “I should decide what stays and what goes.” And you’re right — but be flexible. Often if a writer refuses all editorial suggestions, they come across as “difficult” and their piece of writing isn’t accepted for publication.
Therefore, every writer needs to remove their emotions from the decision-making process when it comes to editing. Both you and the editor want the same thing: readers to have access to the best possible version of your story.
So let’s hope I correctly applied those editorial suggestions and “fixed” a few problem areas in “Assassins” well enough that you’ll get to read the story in November. 
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