It's strange, but it's widely accepted in our society that "You've lost weight!" is considered to be high praise. You could be ill, you could be on yo...
We make choices we call practical without questioning what it is we wish to practice. We give away our "one wild and precious life," as Mary Oliver called it, for comfort, but do not ask what it is we feel we should be comforted for.
Writers will probably always want to keep control of their work, but who is to say that the particular collaboration between a writer and her editor results in the best possible book?