My tasks have been short and focused, as I'm copy-editing and fact checking the 60+ articles we've received for the spring issue. I've found I really enjoy the process-- it fits in well with my natural inclination for organization-- but it makes me painfully aware of how many disorganized writers there are. How on earth do you not realize that a link like this --> (http:\\www.nocommonsense.com/outside-bozeman-cannot-prin?t-this\345869799199)
CAN NEVER be printed in an issue? It's a big pet peeve of mine, having to fix all of the errors because the writer was too lazy.
Which brings me to formatting. On what planet is it okay to write in Comic Sans? What magazine have you written for previously where you didn't include a by-line, or word count? Why would you put three spaces when beginning a new sentence? Or type in grey font? The benefit of doing all this work and experiencing these errors (and how much they annoy me) means that the next time I go to have something published or to send a query to a magazine, I can make sure I avoid these same problems and KEEP CONSISTENT... because I know how valuable time is for an editor.
Each day of editing-- each article, really-- teaches me something new, and my style guide is now covered in ink with amendments I find necessary to make as I wade through the waters of compound adjective hyphenation, dangling modifiers, and serial commas. I know so much more already than when I began, but I still find myself questioning the most basic of things-- like capitalization of certain proper nouns, like the Headwaters, or Missouri River. I wonder if I'll be wondering about this stuff for the rest of my life...
Otherwise things are moving along, as we come closer and closer to our production deadline. I had another small article (a sidebar, actually) added to my piece, and got some positive feedback from the editors! Though tomorrow is another day...
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