Dreaming of My Editor: What 40 Years as a Freelancer Has Taught Me

Last night I dreamt that my cartoon editor at The New Yorker was excited to see me.

This is what it’s like to be a freelancer: we dream about our work. I have no doubt that Emma likes me, it’s not personal. I like her.

It’s about the work. But now, it’s also about the decimated media landscape and money. I have been drawing cartoons for over 40 years and have had many editors. On some jobs—mostly illustration type assignments–you work hand in hand with your editor. For The New Yorker, it’s always been the case that they leave you alone. You’re supposed to come up with something on your own, and they either buy it or they don’t.

For today’s Deeper Seeing, I want to write about the editor/artist relationship. I know I’m not alone in dreaming about work. And whether you’re an artist or creator, or you work in a completely different industry, I hope these insights will help you know that you’re not alone, and perhaps some advice or wisdom (or whatever the heck it is) from my decades battling for professional independence and longevity. Please let me know what you think in the comments, and I encourage you to share war stories of your own!

Over the past 50 years we’ve seen an incredible change in how news is delivered to us. (Just think about how I’m reaching you right now.) The most innovative thing I had when I left college was my electric typewriter. There were no personal computers, of course, no cell phones, no faxes. Each week I would deliver my cartoon ideas drawn on paper, carefully placed in a manila envelope, down to the offices of The New Yorker on West 44th St. It was thrilling and scary; I was driven to express myself. I was determined on being published in a magazine I respected, and by editors whom I hoped might understand me. ...