Editors are a lonely bunch.

The American Editors Association has released its 2009 "Annual Survey of Favorite Works of Art."

"In a word, alienation," is how AEA President Giuliana Manfredini characterized the survey results. Manfredini elaborated: "We have seen over the past few years, the survey trending slightly in this direction. But for a variety of reasons—some market and some economy driven—the dam seems to have broken last year, carrying our members to a very dark place insofar as their selections."

Here, then, are the top 10:

1. Edvard Munch’s "The Scream"

2. Pink Floyd’s "Another Brick in the Wall"

3. "The Prisoner"’s assertion, "I am not a number—I am a free man!"

4. The Beatles’ "Nowhere Man"

5. Edward Everett Hale’s The Man Without a Country

6. Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man

7. The Coen Brothers’ "The Man Who Wasn’t There"

8. Bob Seger’s "Feel Like a Number"

9. Thomas Harris’s The Silence of the Lambs

10. Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land

The survey, to which nearly 80,000 editors responded, asked members to identify their top pick from the fields of literature, film, music, TV, or any other artistic medium of their choice.

Overheard at the Carets & Styx

A couple of days ago, I was at my favorite hangout, the devilishly fun café for editors, when I listened in on a conversation between two of my peers.

EDITOR 1: The writer I’m dealing with now is a real bitch. She’s insulting, patronizing, and never answers my queries.

EDITOR 2: You're preaching to the choir, honey. If we had a nickel, huh.

EDITOR 1: At the risk of sounding sexist, maybe she needs to get laid.

EDITOR 2: I need to get laid! But I digress. I'm making a note to myself on this. There has got to be a relationship between the sexual activity or inactivity of writers and how they relate to their editors.

EDITOR 1: Let's call Trish over at the Sosh Department to see if this has some research grant potential.

Best of the Week's Bios

The writers who pen the articles I edit for my online editing gig include a short bio at the end of their articles. Here are the gems from the past week:

Writing has been a means of refuge for [him] since he can remember. [He] opined, "It leads to self-realization which begets clarity which begets understanding that drives serviceability."

[He] continues to share his love for the Houston Rockets in his writing.

[He] wants to be the catalyst that propels amazing stories.

I loved a good granola long before I attended UC Berkeley.

This was a fairly wast assignment. I finished my business finance class a week ago. Make an recommendation you fell are necessary.

She possesses a Master's Degree in Education with a minor in English, as well as a Bachelor's Degree in Education as well.

I am a Behavior Analyst and proud owner of an English Bulldog, who inspires much of my writing.

My ability to type is 45+ wpm.

I hope to one day find a box of money.

Why I Love Apple

Zen and the art of editor maintenance

I recently encountered a sentence in an article I was editing that stopped me in my editing tracks by its multi-dimensional profundity:

The best form of security for a computer file is for the file to have never existed on the computer.

Before I could move ahead, I needed to call up a couple of my friends to see if they could unlock the mystery of that text.

Drago Kovic is a philosophy professor at Georgetown whose most popular class is on the roots of existentialism. Florian Stocchi is a consultant to DoD on matters of cyber warfare. The following is the gist of what they had to say.

DRAGO: The phrase "never existed on the computer" implies that the file existed elsewhere. But if it's a "computer file," where can it exist other than on a computer?

FLORIAN: If the concern is the security of files on a computer, but this file existed somewhere off of the computer, then why would it need any security at all?

DRAGO: And if it doesn't need any security because it exists somewhere other than on the computer, in essence and for purposes of this analysis, it is nonexistent.

FLORIAN: I concur. In that case, there is no need to even consider its security.

As I expected, Drago and Florian pointed me in the only direction possible. I deleted the sentence from the article.

Sailing Solo

I received my final paycheck today from my former employer.

The U.S.S. Bud is now officially a rogue ship broken off from the mother fleet.

Coming about. Hard alee!

Diminishing Returns

I am convinced that my 26 years of editorial experience is working against me in terms of seeking another FT job, especially in today's declining job market.

As to required experience, job ads often indicate that the employer is looking for an editor with perhaps 8 to 10 years, tops.

Anything above that would, in most employers' view, put a very experienced editor way beyond the top of their salary range.

And as someone who has hired and managed editors, even I would admit that I'd probably hire an editor with 8, as opposed to 26 years of experience. If that candidate has been in the field that long and has advanced in her career, she'd fit the bill just fine.

We've heard of job hunters who "dumb down" their resumes by removing post-graduate degrees to eliminate the possibility that they will be viewed, for example, as too smart, over-qualified, and likely to be bored.

I suppose I could delete 10 years or so from my resume. But I value all of it, and it shows a long, accomplished career. I do not want to deny so much of my professional life.