I'd never had someone tell me how unruly my eyebrows were. Well, except for my wife, who tells me how unruly everything is. This woman had no qualms with telling me exactly how she saw me. There was no fake politeness. There was no rose-colored glasses. There was only me and the simple fact that my eyebrows needed to be trimmed. She wasn't gonna let a little thing like politeness get in the way of improving the way I look.
This exact relationship should exist between a writer and an editor. There should be no fake politeness. No rose-colored glasses. The editor must focus on the writing and feel free to communicate the blemishes without reserve. Feelings should not factor into the equation. All that matters is the brutal truth. If you aren't getting that, then you need to adjust your relationship with your editor. Or consider finding another one.
The revision process is not an easy one. But it's an important one. You want your writing to look as good as it possibly can. You want someone to look at your eyebrows and tell you they're out of control. That way, you can get them cut so that they'll look like this:
