Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Versions

Lately, I've tried to behave a little better. I follow all traffic laws. I let Stephen watch what he wants on TV. I am really trying to be an improved Jennifer.

Part of it is driving me nuts.

Why is it driving me nuts? Well, not really for any of the above reasons, but for a different one: typos.

A big part of my current job is finding typos. I look through big, scary, and important grants, making sure our clients don't look like buffoons because they can't spell "funders." I have to find those hidden extra periods, commas and spaces when someone's hand was a bit too heavy. I basically have the last set of eyes before anything goes anywhere.

What's the big deal? Trying to turn this off when I get back into the real world.

Newspapers. Blogs. Restaurant menus. EVERYTHING has typos. I feel like my house is scattered with items where I've used AP Stylebook notations to fix already published works. Sometimes I find myself talking to my computer because I can make no such corrections on the screen (yet...). I can't stop.

So, I ask those of you, who have been in the real world longer than me, how do I switch out of work mode (where I edit everything in sight) and turn back into a normal reader? Because right now, it is keeping me stuck in Jennifer, Version 1.0.


P.S. Trying to edit your own post about editing other people's work has the same amount of pressure as trying to remove your own tonsils.

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