This will probably not come as a huge shock to anyone who’s read this blog before and knows how picky I am about grammar, but I really, really enjoy editing. I enjoy writing, too, but editing is really what gets my right brain working.
Sure, it can be tedious at times. And yeah, there are a billion little random rules that you need to know, and the job is sometimes a neverending game of constantly checking facts, grammar, and spelling.
But it's all worth it when you look at a freshly edited piece of copy, knowing that it's a little bit easier to read because you cleaned it up. It's a unique kind of job satisfaction that's almost as rewarding as getting the paycheck.
Last night, I helped my husband edit a cover letter he wrote for a local acting gig. He's a very good writer---better than I am---but he doesn't worry a lot about how the words look on the page. The result was a big block of text that said a lot of really awesome things about him...but because it was a big block of text, it was utterly unreadable.
I helped him break it up a little, cleaned up some super-nitpicky punctuation issues, and helped him tweak the wording. The result? A punchy, impressive, "please hire me" cover letter that he was proud to send out. They were still his words; they just looked nicer.
Of course, I don't see a dime for editing jobs like that. I did it because I love him and I want to see him get the job, and it means a lot to me to be the person knows he can go to and say, "Please edit this." And I won't lie---I was proud of the finished product.
What's your favorite part of your artistic endeavors?
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