The GirlAlive Blog

Uneventful Week and Musings on Editing

August 7, 2010 on 6:02 pm | In Books, Computers and Web Stuff, Life In General | No Comments

This week has been a bit boring. No eye implosions. Just a trip to the JobCentre. There are pretty much no jobs out there, which is why I’ve taken a few steps to keep myself busy.

First of all, there are the Tumblr blogs that I mentioned in the last post. I’ve been reviewing books like crazy, and posting random crap. I also did a favor for my cousin. He needed someone to do a little proofreading, so I gave him an hour of my time to nitpick.

The project I was working on was related to Green Routes. If you live in, or plan to visit the upper Midwest (Minnesota, Wisconsin, and a little of the surrounding area) you need to check that site. It is full of great information about small businesses that try to operate in an environmentally responsible way. And beyond being “green” a lot of the places just look fun and interesting.

Working on proofreading and copy editing things always makes me feel a little defensive. Like, people think that I think I’m smarter than they are because I know a lot about punctuation and spelling. I think some people get paranoid that I’m judging them whenever they make a typo. The truth is, I’m completely aware that spelling and punctuation have basically nothing to do with intelligence. I have friends who can’t spell to save their lives, but they’d kick my ass on any IQ test any day. I just happen to have a talent for English nit-picking. I like editing because it allows me to help some of those smart people sound as smart as they really are.

People also think that I’m probably one of those grammar nazis that trolls all over the internet pointing out everyone’s typos. I’m not. Why should I give out my services all over the internet for free? I notice typos, and usually don’t mention them. Especially when they are perpetrated by people I like. However, there is one situation in which I will use my superpowers for evil. And that is against internet trolls. I hang out at I’m With Coco quite a bit, and every so often we get some obnoxious Leno fan trolling there. Rather than arguing with them, I just correct their grammar and spelling. So the general rule is that I will only tear your grammar apart if you annoy me, or if you pay me. Which I admit is a little weird. I’m like a grammar dominatrix.