Gabriella, my friend also told the editor to stick her own byline on any articles she rewrites like that. (One of the minor editing blunders was in an article on astronomy. My friend is a huge astronomy and science nut, so when I read a line near the lead saying "The universe is really big," I knew the editor stuck that in!) But a funny thing happened: A few days later, when another editor at the same place made some minor changes to one of my friend's articles, he ran them by her. He'd never done that before, so she guessed that he'd talked to the lousy editor. He started laughing and said he was sitting next to her when she took my friend's call, and he doesn't want to be on the receiving end of one of those calls!

Paula, wow. Is he kidding? He thinks that's a defense? Jeezuz, I hope you're done with him after this.

Gabriella, I think that's a good way to approach it. My goal is to remain calm. 🙂 Keeping the focus on the problem and off the bullshit excuses and runaround helps. It doesn't hurt to vent to friends offline, either. 🙂 That keeps me from saying something to the client that I'd surely regret.

Your comment about calling the editor is a good one, too, Paula. On Friday, I actually considered calling him and telling him politely I'm getting concerned. But I'm holding off for now.

He sends articles to me for review before publication, so at least I can catch mistakes he inserts.

And I certainly don't want to lose the client. It's been a very productive relationship for years, and he's actually the third editor I've worked with.

So, so far, it's me watching and politely pushing back.

My own issue was with my late-paying former client. His constant excuses and total disregard for writers did not make it easy to remain professional, but I did. Like your client, Lori, he tried to paint me as the unreasonable one by saying that he'd paid freelance writers millions of dollars over the past 27 years. Let's see…he probably averaged 3 titles per year, each with 15-20 lengthy freelance articles. Multiply that by 20 years and it equals….lots of writers being underpaid for their services. The sentence he wrote that proves how much he needs good writers? "Rest assured, you will not be the first writer not to get paid."

I kid you not.

Some clients don't make it easy to stay professional. But no matter the setting or situation, it's always best to keep your calm. It sure beats saying or doing something you'll soon regret.

That second one — oy. I was in that situation a while back. The edits/revisions included changing quotes! I was dumbfounded, and I mentioned that the "change" would be taken out of context and would mean something completely opposite. The editor made the change back, but that was the last time we worked together. I think he was indignant about it, but I was relieved. In a few cases, he made us look like fools with his overuse of hyphens.

On one, I dumped a long-term client because a new person assumed oversight of my work, and over a few weeks, it was clear the new person wasn't qualified and would throw me under the bus if there was a problem–even one I didn't create.

I stayed professional in my emails documenting my resignation. However, I've known many of the people in charge there for two decades, and in person, I was fairly blunt: She's not qualified, there are going to be mistakes, and I'd get blamed.

The upshot? The people in charge have quietly asked me to come back and they're kicking out the woman who's in over her head!

Now how glad am I that I stayed professional?! Even when I was in person and more blunt, I was professional–just forthright.

Second sitch, a new editor has on two articles in a row made edits that changed the meaning of a source's comments. I'm staying professional, but it's getting harder to do that whole, "Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me. I'm uncomfortable because…."

And I sure don't like that I'm going to have to watch him like a hawk so I don't hear from sources that I've misquoted them!

This whole professionalism thing can be difficult!!!!!!!!!!!!