I started out writing all our articles on my own, but now we have writers that do most of the work. We've assured our clients that all articles are either written by me, or at least edited by me (when addressing the writers I refer to myself as Lisa (head writer/editor/wife) the "wife" is because they mostly deal with Greg. I think my title is funny. That's why I chose it.). That makes me the editor. It also makes me want to change large chunks of articles sometimes. But I don't. Usually. Here are some things I've learned in my editing.
* Just because someone says something differently than I would, doesn't mean it's wrong (necessarily). (this only applies because the client may assume it's written by me, normally I don't think about this at all, of course.)
*editing other people's articles (if they know how to write) takes less time and effort than writing them myself, which is a major bonus.
*editing other people's articles (if they don't know how to write) takes much more time and near explosions of the brain than just writing them myself (fortunately this only happens when we're looking to hire. We don't hire those guys)
* After editing "internet" in favor of "Internet" repeatedly, I find I am only doing it for the sake of consistency, but I wonder every time if it's not terribly old fashioned to capitalize it.
* I've had loads of practice in breaking up run-on sentences like this (I made up the following example but it's very much like the real thing, except dumber because I don't really know how to write a good, sensical run on like this writer does, although if I tried I probably could but it might take a little thought and effort and I don't have a lot of time right now as we are running out the door in a minute but I'll do my best.):
When considering which club of the month to purchase for a loved one, you should take into account the interests of the person in question, so you can be sure that they will be pleased to receive their gift every month, which will give them a good feeling when they think of you because they will remember that the gift is from you, so this is a very important thing to keep in mind.
Wow. My not really trying but just kind of kidding run-on was quite a bit better than my attempt at copying my writer's type of run-on.
Only one period per comment, please. Run-ON people. Run-ON.
17 comments:
Editing can sure be fun when the writer knows what they're doing, but it can be such a pain when they don't, as you said so well and eloquently in you post that you wrote today and that I read upon waking up, and in case you didn't know (not that you care), I'm still in my pajamas, which are blue.
(Long enough for ya? :D)
Lisa, what kind of writing do you do, and for what? Last time you were having to misspell "yacht" on purpose. Are you still doing that? Please enlighten me!
I love your sense of humor, Lisa. I am a run-on expert (I can construct a whole paragraph in one sentence if my mind is moving fast enough, which is all the time so I continue to create long sentences on accident, especially when blogging.)
I have a friend who speaks in run on sentences, and I am exhausted after visiting with her because she talks until her breath is gone. I am the opposite when I write. I think in short, descriptive terms. I need some run on training so that I have more developed ideas. :)
Lisa, I am sure the more you edit, the harder it is to read blog after blog, that has run in sentences, lots of commas, and - and lots of ..... bet you wish you had the passwords to fix them, I mean dont you just wish that.....!!!!!! LOL (WINK on the LOL)
Well, aren't you just the editing queen, but it makes me a little nervous, because I bet that when you come read my blog you really want to whip our your red pencil and rip my sentences to shreds, especially the parts where I use frequent comma splices and more parenthesis than actual words, but oh well, I write kind of like I talks, so what can I say? How was that? :)
Oh shoot, the run-on was on purpose, but the s at the end of talks was a mistake. Boo.
Aaaagh! And "whip out" instead of "whip our." Now I feel like a loser. I made a fool of myself on a post about people who can't write correctly! (Hangs head in shame.)
If I wrote like I think, I might never use another period again, I mean, seriously, my head is one big batch of jumbled thoughts swirling around, which is what I used to love about *mary*'s posts, because her writing was just like the gobbledygook-gunk going around in my head.
SOme things and some stuff and then some more things and then some more stuff and some of the things are mildly amusing but don't really make you laugh but then one of the stuff is hilarious and you find yourself slapping your knee and shaking your head and thinking, that Wonderland gal, she sure is funny!
Now that's a great comment.
I love, love, love to edit. I think it comes from childhood, when I knew at least somewhere (school) there was predictability in the rules of the English language. Even today, I will choose editing over other jobs to take on. I find it relaxing. Crazy, I know.
So, your job of writing paragraphs for the internet has turned into a full time business? Wow! How totally cool! Are you making money at it yet? (Not to be nosey but, ahem! just wondering . . .)
So, your job of writing paragraphs for the internet has turned into a full time business? Wow! How totally cool! Are you making money at it yet? (Not to be nosey but, ahem! just wondering . . .)
I think after a couple days of doing that I'd probably just randomly start hitting people.
I am not patient by nature.
I also am wondering what kind of writing you're doing, and for what.
And just so you know, there's something on my blog for you...
I think in run on sentences and so I probably talk a lot in run on sentences and blog with tons of run on sentences :-) Feel free to point it out to me when you're visiting my blog. I was editor in chief of our college paper but that was a lifetime ago, and any editing skills or writing skills I may have had are GONE :-)
I think I'd be a good proofreader if all I had to do was find typos and simple grammatical errors. But actually fixing writing, well, I'd have to know how to write. You go girl!
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