Editing is a humbling experience.

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I’ve heard it said that people who can, do & people who can’t, teach. 

Personally, I think that’s a crock of cr@p. The best teachers are the ones who have slogged through the mire in their field of study and can teach you how to stay away from the tar pits.

The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.

A better way to say it might be this:  People who are really bad at everything else and thought teaching was going to be easier are going to be really bad teachers.

I know what you’re going to say, “What does that have to do with editing?”

Some of the best editors I know are also writers. 

I should mentioned at this point that I’ve never been a teacher or an editor and I probably don’t know what the hell I’m talking about.

But…

I do know a little something about being on the other end of editing.

The first time my “babies” (aka, books) were slashed into little pieces, I cried.  Mostly because of all the squiggles I had no hope of reading.  It’s like someone threw red spaghetti all over the page and I had to decipher what it means.

Yes, I admit it; knowing that I had a lot to learn about writing was horrifying.  I still have a lot to learn, but my tolerance for slash-that-sentence has increased to the point where I can look at the offending pixels and hit the delete button.

Instead of something that looks like this, covering up the words…

Squiggle vector set - Download Free Vectors, Clipart Graphics & Vector Art

A word processor actually strikes through the words that need to be deleted and has some sanity to it gives them a different color.  What a concept!

I can say, without a doubt, I’m developing a sense of humor when it comes to words:

Take that grammar police

Now that my creative frenzy has ceased, I find editing rather refreshing.

If only I knew what I was doing.

Category : Words, Writing
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