Week Thirteen: This and That

This week I turned my rough draft article in to Tam.  We talked about it and made a few edits.  I added a few more hundred words to it and I will work on finalizing it next week.  I finished all of the success stories.  There is over forty ready for upload onto the ELC website. 

I’ve learned that editing is a painful but rewarding process.  When editing the writing of others, their mistakes are blatant trolls blaring out of the page, pointing and laughing at me.  I stamp them out with a loud but satisfactory CLICK of the delete button and replace those trolls with little patches of lilies.

However, when I write—I write no wrong.   Meaning, I look over my articles, make a few edits, and think I’m good to go.  Then I turn it into Tam.  She points out all the obvious mistakes I should have seen.  This and that (literally: “this,” “that,” “those”—the dreadful referent ambiguities) become apparent to me and I hang my head in shame.  I think this is a lesson that can be applied to everyone.  It is so easy to see the faults and mistakes in others, yet so hard to notice it in ourselves.  Rough draft after rough draft, this article-writing will be a humbling but rewarding experience.