Misconceptions About Writing, Editing & Work

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Attention English Majors:

Please stop whining about how no one taught you how to edit. And, please stop whining about when your stuff gets edited, you should’ve caught the mistakes because, “I’m an English major!”

Studying undergraduate English is a completely different universe from manuscript editing. Expecting to be a good editor because you studied English is like expecting Michael Phelps to perform synchronized swimming.

While we’re on the subject – why is this professional gap only attributed to people who studied English? I don’t get it. Perhaps the name is an educational misnomer. In high school, when you actually did study English (you know, the language) it was important to understand various concepts of proper grammar, punctuation and so on.

Unless I’m mistaken, reading and studying Jane Eyre, James Baldwin and William Somerset Maugham doesn’t often, if ever,  mesh with the world of understanding em dashes, when to capitalize frankfurter or whether you should spell out the number 101.

Writing is about creative ownership. Editing is about creative clarity.

Side Note: Em dashes (or just the dash) are used to amplify or explain information, separate subjects from pronouns, indicate sudden breaks, or in place of a comma or quotation marks.

Only capitalize frankfurter if you are talking about folks from Frankfurt, not the food.

Only spell out numbers one through one hundred.*

It’s Too Late to Go to Harvard

I once heard a girl who was interested in journalism** complain that she had five internships (some at major TV stations) and still couldn’t find a job. She also thought because she graduated from Loyola, her job prospects were going to be doomed by competing with anybody not from Loyola.

I’ve met quite a few young people who think their degrees are the official badge of getting hired…or not getting hired. There is only one way to approach this: education snobs are just like any other snob. Such people come up with any lame and superficial reason to dislike something they don’t know about or have developed preconceived judgments.

And, if you suspect someone is using your alma mater as a reason to not hire you, I’d say count your blessings. Only goodness knows what other types of idiocy they’ll have in store for you.

Secondly, there is more free work than paid work these days.  Nevertheless, it’s also somewhat presumptuous to think your free work (read: internship) is supposed to get you a job. The internship is the proverbial toe – and not necessarily foot – in the door.

When deciding to pursue certain experiences in life, it’s a tad unrealistic to expect only certain goals be filled while thinking other crap won’t happen. These traps lead to disenchantment. Even more so, they create a deep and unforgiving chip on the shoulder.

*According to the Chicago Manual of Style

**I’d suspect she’d at least have a realistic outlook of the state of journalism