'Even a magazine like Model Boats is a serial offender. Why? It's not difficult is it? "It's a shame when a boat sinks on its maiden voyage." Get it? Good.'
You've probably not had the pleasure of editing a model boating magazine then! Whilst it goes without saying that the content is usually excellent and the contributors competent to superb model boat builders, I'm afraid that the quality of the written material can vary enormously. Some is pretty much grammatically perfect but quite a lot can be badly wanting, requiring correction of grammar, spelling, punctuation and even structure. (plus the author might have got his facts wrong!). So you go through the article correcting everything you can find and read it again only to find a batch of typos and things like repeated phrases you have missed. So you edit again. But now you are on the slippery slope, as after about five readings, you see what you expect to see and still miss the odd typos and omitted or incorrectly used apostrophes. By now you are heartily sick of the thing.
If it was The Times then there would be a sub editor to look at it as well but it is Model Boats and there is only you. I have resorted to getting my Wife to proof read the really difficult ones but there is a limit to which you can employ this correction of last resort. (She ALWAYS finds something).
Oh, and did I mention deadlines?
Anyhow, you get it just right and off it goes to the designer. The low res proofs come back and. s*d it, you've missed a couple of mistakes or a photo caption isn't quite right. Designer corrects these and off it goes to the printers, absolutely perfect at last - until you open up the printed copy and.....
If you can do better then fame (but certainly not a fortune) awaits you.
Colin