As a linguist, I see the arbitrariness of strictures editors force on me as a writer.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Writing in a strict form can surprise you.
And if you want to know why great editors scare the pants off of writers everywhere, read 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' by Lynne Truss. The punctuation police are everywhere!
Contrary to popular belief, editors and agents are gagging for good books.
If it were not for the fact that editors have become so timorous in these politically correct times, I would probably have a greater readership than I have.
A writer is a tool of the language rather than the other way around.
In truth, even if they have an imperfect insight into their own methods, I still slightly mistrust writers of fiction who are assured literary critics; it makes me suspect that they favour the word over the world it should describe. Such scribes fall victim too easily to the solecism of equating style with morality.
Writers have to put up with this editor thing; it is ageless and eternal and wrong.
Truth is, every writer has to be a good editor, and you have to edit yourself. It's a skill every writer has to acquire.
One should fight like the devil the temptation to think well of editors. They are all, without exception - at least some of the time, incompetent or crazy.
As an editor, I have to be tactful, of course.