I've never been known for my cool factor, but this self-awareness reached new heights the other night while working at the gym.
At my "real, professional" job I have some pretty big upcoming projects and in preparation I've been reading my old college editing textbooks to brush up on my editing skills. In reading these books, I've reached some conclusions: Mostly, that I have no idea what I'm doing. I find this to be extremely ironic, and more than a little sad. I've been touting myself with excellent writing and editing skills but as I continue to read about editing and style techniques I realize I really only know the basics. We're talking stringing sentences together with a subject + verb + a direct object. That's all I've got. No prepositions. No summative modifiers. In fact, what is a summative modifier anyway?
The second thing I've learned is that I LOVE reading these books. It sounds so lame but I really enjoy it! It's broadened my horizons in terms of good writing and how I write. I wish that it had all made more sense years ago when I was actually learning this in college. It would have helped me so much more when I considered grad school. Slowly, I'm trying to incorporate these lessons into my own writing. I feel like in a lot of ways I have an edge this time around. I already have a solid foundation in writing--now, as I study rules, suggestions, and techniques I'm starting to retain these lessons much more easily than in college. Another irony--it's only been five years since I graduated college. Obviously I'm a late bloomer.
But as I worked at the gym (and I use that term loosely, because usually I grab a chair and pull out a book) I looked up to see this weird guy just watching me. It looked like he was waiting for me and I'd gotten a little too focused on my book--I didn't notice him walk up. I got up and asked if I could help him.
"Good book?" He said, not even replying to my question.
I shrug. "Sure. It's not too bad."
"Because you were laughing at it."
Um . . .
Was I just laughing while reading a grammar book of all things? And didn't even realize it by the way? I didn't know if I should laugh or turn my head in mortification as I tried to process the fact that some dude caught me laughing while reading a grammar book.
At my "real, professional" job I have some pretty big upcoming projects and in preparation I've been reading my old college editing textbooks to brush up on my editing skills. In reading these books, I've reached some conclusions: Mostly, that I have no idea what I'm doing. I find this to be extremely ironic, and more than a little sad. I've been touting myself with excellent writing and editing skills but as I continue to read about editing and style techniques I realize I really only know the basics. We're talking stringing sentences together with a subject + verb + a direct object. That's all I've got. No prepositions. No summative modifiers. In fact, what is a summative modifier anyway?
The second thing I've learned is that I LOVE reading these books. It sounds so lame but I really enjoy it! It's broadened my horizons in terms of good writing and how I write. I wish that it had all made more sense years ago when I was actually learning this in college. It would have helped me so much more when I considered grad school. Slowly, I'm trying to incorporate these lessons into my own writing. I feel like in a lot of ways I have an edge this time around. I already have a solid foundation in writing--now, as I study rules, suggestions, and techniques I'm starting to retain these lessons much more easily than in college. Another irony--it's only been five years since I graduated college. Obviously I'm a late bloomer.
But as I worked at the gym (and I use that term loosely, because usually I grab a chair and pull out a book) I looked up to see this weird guy just watching me. It looked like he was waiting for me and I'd gotten a little too focused on my book--I didn't notice him walk up. I got up and asked if I could help him.
"Good book?" He said, not even replying to my question.
I shrug. "Sure. It's not too bad."
"Because you were laughing at it."
Um . . .
Was I just laughing while reading a grammar book of all things? And didn't even realize it by the way? I didn't know if I should laugh or turn my head in mortification as I tried to process the fact that some dude caught me laughing while reading a grammar book.
3 comments:
Dude! Who cares if you are a nerd about books. There are tons of us out there. And I just noticed you are reading Atonement. You'll have to tell me how you liked it. I loved it. It's probably one of my favorite books this from the last few years.
~Jen from the foundation
Mel, at least you were laughing at a book. I typically laugh at something I'm thinking and people just assume I'm crazy.
Is there a button that says "Crazy is sexy"?
Wow - that's incredible that you can read those books. You lost me in the first paragraph. My attention span is 2.3 seconds - maybe. And by the way - the pics of your arm is NASTY. Remember when that happened to Brooke?
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