Bill McCleary answered my question:
>
> What are mechanics? I use the term as shorthand for everything that is not
> contents--spelling, punctuation, syntax, usage, etc. Of course, I wouldn't
> claim that it's always possible to separate mechanics from contents.
>
> How do YOU define mechanics?
 
I don't ever use the word.  I talk about "the editing process" a
good deal, and the various considerations involved.
 
To judge by subsequent posts, nobody else seems to be troubled by what
seems to me the inherently trivializing connotation of the word "mechanics,"
so I will desist!  But the fact that we don't have a shared vocabulary
to discuss written language development seems odd.
 
Carolyn Kirkpatrick
York College/CUNY