We all have flaws. It is what makes us perfect in our own special way—or so I’m told. Personally, I find it about as irritating as it can be.
One of my many flaws is proofreading my own writing. Kind of ironic for my new hobby of blogging. I digress.
I am often asked to edit colleagues’ writing. I can do that. Spelling. Grammar. Punctuation. Run-on sentences. <Insert Charlie Brown’s Teacher’s voice here with ‘waaa wa waaa waaa,’ here.> That is easy for me.
Then, when I try to proofread my own stuff, and well, I suck at it. I know what should be written, why doesn’t everyone else? I have tried every “technique” available—read word-for-word, read aloud, read backwards (I have never understood how you can get content understanding on that one, but…). None of them (consistently) work for me.
So, I have this new theory. Maybe, just maybe, there is a Fairy named the Illiterate Fairy. She has a special power to break into my computer and change words, punctuation, spelling, context, content, etc. as I hit enter/send/save. Maybe she lives in my computer in the cookie settings. ...hmmm...maybe that is how she sustains herself? She eats cookies! I wonder if they are Girl Scout Thin Mints?
That’s it. She eats Thin Mint Cookies. Her blood sugar rises. She becomes the Tasmanian Devil of Grammar, causes havoc, and then goes into a sugar slump until the next time a document needs to be sent.
I think I have finally solved it. I feel so much better!
One of my many flaws is proofreading my own writing. Kind of ironic for my new hobby of blogging. I digress.
I am often asked to edit colleagues’ writing. I can do that. Spelling. Grammar. Punctuation. Run-on sentences. <Insert Charlie Brown’s Teacher’s voice here with ‘waaa wa waaa waaa,’ here.> That is easy for me.
Then, when I try to proofread my own stuff, and well, I suck at it. I know what should be written, why doesn’t everyone else? I have tried every “technique” available—read word-for-word, read aloud, read backwards (I have never understood how you can get content understanding on that one, but…). None of them (consistently) work for me.
So, I have this new theory. Maybe, just maybe, there is a Fairy named the Illiterate Fairy. She has a special power to break into my computer and change words, punctuation, spelling, context, content, etc. as I hit enter/send/save. Maybe she lives in my computer in the cookie settings. ...hmmm...maybe that is how she sustains herself? She eats cookies! I wonder if they are Girl Scout Thin Mints?
That’s it. She eats Thin Mint Cookies. Her blood sugar rises. She becomes the Tasmanian Devil of Grammar, causes havoc, and then goes into a sugar slump until the next time a document needs to be sent.
I think I have finally solved it. I feel so much better!