Editing

Although I edit immaculately for a living, I am finding that the more I get paid to edit, the less I self-edit things that I am not doing for my job. I suppose it is like this chef I once knew who was the head chef for a five-star restaurant, but ended up eating McDonalds every night because he was married to another five-star chef and neither of them wanted to cook.

I have always proofread everything I have typed into a computer. Even in the 80s, when few people were on computers but none of them followed grammar or spelling rules, I went back and edited before posting. My computer friends thought I was crazy.

Now, I have always tried to edit – even text messages, but I am finding myself slipping in a LOL or even an ASAP here and there, which may be amusing in some cases, but it bothers me afterward.

I also drop commas or add them where they don’t belong, and although I do run at least a Word check on things, I sometimes forget to read back over them.

The worst thing is that I do not know why writing and editing for a living has suddenly made me less grammatical in my daily work. However, I am warning you now that it has: so expect errors - horrendous errors to follow. If I ever become a rich and famous author, I will do my best to hire someone with meticulous spelling and grammar to write for me.