The writer-editor dance is sometimes more of a scuffle. You send what you think is a good piece and it comes back for a rewrite. Or, worse, it just gets published with someone else’s fingerprints all over it.
It’s frustrating when the editor shoehorns in a couple of clichés or changes your lede* just because he likes it his way better. Sometimes it’s even worth putting up a (respectful) fight.
But sometimes the fault belongs to you, rather than to some numbskull editor who doesn’t appreciate your brilliance. As a freelance writer you must give a publication what it wants, not what you think it should have.
