...so is the ability to proofread without missing anything the first time through.
Crap on a stick! I lack both.
I once had a professor who said something like this “we fall in love with our own words and can not see errors.”
Crap on a stick! I lack both.
I once had a professor who said something like this “we fall in love with our own words and can not see errors.”
That was not an exact quote, and he may have been quoting
someone else. I don’t know, but I do pass this quote on to my students when they
write for me. I remind them that they need to write and then put the document
away, for at least a day, before returning to it for proofreading. Do they heed
this magnificent advice? No, but neither do I.
They don’t wait to proofread because most of them have written the paper
30 minutes before it was due, even though I gave them ample time to complete
the work, in class, two days before. I don’t wait to proofread because I can’t
wait to put my words out there. Really. It’s like I have a condition that
prevents me from sitting on text for a day or even an hour.
I blame the ENFP in me for three things:
1. my lack of patience
2. my tendency to not return to a project if I do not complete it in one sitting
I blame the ENFP in me for three things:
1. my lack of patience
2. my tendency to not return to a project if I do not complete it in one sitting
3. my distracted brain
Unfortunately, I do not see errors in my writing right away. I suspect this is because my brain thinks faster than I read. I know what the line should say (because I just friggin’ wrote it) and my brain magically sees the text just the way it aught to be.
As a teacher, this can be a problem because I have to respond to parents, coworkers, students, etc… in a timely manner. I don’t have the luxury of sitting on an email for a day. I have to force myself to practically read emails aloud before sending them to parents. The worst thing ever is when a parent notices an error and calls me on it. This has only happened twice, but I worry, and I mean I really fret. My favorite of the two was the parent who told me my “grammer” (sic) was wrong because I asked a question but ended the sentence in a period. Hehe
I am no grammar, spelling or punctuation tyrant because people make mistakes and I am usually of those people. I am that teacher who will not lower a grade for a typo or two so long as the problems are not due to blatant recklessness or apathy to the work.
Unfortunately, I do not see errors in my writing right away. I suspect this is because my brain thinks faster than I read. I know what the line should say (because I just friggin’ wrote it) and my brain magically sees the text just the way it aught to be.
As a teacher, this can be a problem because I have to respond to parents, coworkers, students, etc… in a timely manner. I don’t have the luxury of sitting on an email for a day. I have to force myself to practically read emails aloud before sending them to parents. The worst thing ever is when a parent notices an error and calls me on it. This has only happened twice, but I worry, and I mean I really fret. My favorite of the two was the parent who told me my “grammer” (sic) was wrong because I asked a question but ended the sentence in a period. Hehe
I am no grammar, spelling or punctuation tyrant because people make mistakes and I am usually of those people. I am that teacher who will not lower a grade for a typo or two so long as the problems are not due to blatant recklessness or apathy to the work.
As a writer the problem has presented itself in the form of
query letters, the one place a writer should not allow a typo to slip by. I missed one last week. I haven’t heard from
the agent, but I can’t believe that she won’t notice. Waaaaah! I saw it in the
first paragraph, the day after I sent the query, when I opened it to customize
for a different agent.
I wish I could send dynamic emails that could be changed the
moment I realized I sent an error.
I also wish Twitter allowed edits to tweets. Maybe I could get my husband, or some techie friend, to work on that.
Wish, wish, wish….
I also wish Twitter allowed edits to tweets. Maybe I could get my husband, or some techie friend, to work on that.
Wish, wish, wish….
So, this first draft will be pushed live to the blog after a
very careful read-through. Still, I’ll look at it tomorrow and gasp at all the
errors.
What are some of your quick proofreading tips?
What are some of your quick proofreading tips?
3 comments:
Read out loud, which you specified already, & read line by line backwards. As a teacher, I will sit for minutes, not days, on emails, or I'll send them first to (now, you) other teachers to verify tone, proofread, etc. Those are reserved for angsty letters, either on my part or the parents. :-)
Read out loud, which you specified already, & read line by line backwards. As a teacher, I will sit for minutes, not days, on emails, or I'll send them first to (now, you) other teachers to verify tone, proofread, etc. Those are reserved for angsty letters, either on my part or the parents. :-)
Thanks Dionne! Reading backwards, eh?
I'm hoping you don't get weirdo spams after responding. hehe
I'm guessing you may have selected "email follow-ups" on that last post, and even after you deleted the comment, you were still in the database as someone interested in all follow-ups to the blog.
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