Do you think you want to be an editor? Or, maybe you don't want
to be right now, but in case you are ever out of work you would like to
have something to fall back on.
According to the "World English Dictionary", "edit" means:
"To prepare (text) for publication by checking and improving its accuracy, clarity, etc."
Ten things you'll need to know to be an editor:
1. How to read. Before considering whether or not to continue with this endeavor, it is important that you know how to read. If you can read this, you should continue. If you can't, then someone else is probably reading it to you. Let them continue.
2. How to write. In order to respond to writers who have submitted material for editorial review, you'll need to know how to write; however, many of your comments may be generic and stored in a file for ease in responding. In that case, all you will need to know how to do is press the right key.
3. How to spell. An essential part of any written communication is the ability to spell.
See if you can find the misspelled word or words in this list:
• Cat
• Hare
• There
• Bare
• Silver
All but the last word are misspelled. You probably used Spell-Check, which didn't catch the fact that the first four words should be: Bat, Hair, Their and Bear.
4. How to punctuate. Every complete sentence should have at least one punctuation mark. In the foregoing sentence, it was the dot at the end (also called a "period"). In the second sentence were the comma, the parentheses, the quotation marks - and the period. In the third sentence were the comma, the comma, the comma, and the dash. In the fourth sentence were the... well, you get the idea.
5. How to pontificate. When reviewing and commenting on the works of others, you must be able to express your opinion in an annoyingly pompous way. Arrogance will certainly help.
6. How to comprehend. You'll be getting feedback from writers whose work you have reviewed; you will need to be able to recognize ridicule, sarcasm, innuendo, and threats.
7. How to condense. Much of the writing you will see tends to be too long-winded. You'll need to be able to cut the heart out of the subject, leaving only enough words to fill the allotted space.
8. How to format. As on this page you should see regular type, bold-face type, paragraphs, a numbered list, and a bulleted list. Know the difference.
There are two more things to complete the list of what you need to know to be an editor, but if we told you what they are then you and anyone else reading this could be an editor. Soon, there would be no writers - only editors. We don't want that.
According to the "World English Dictionary", "edit" means:
"To prepare (text) for publication by checking and improving its accuracy, clarity, etc."
Ten things you'll need to know to be an editor:
1. How to read. Before considering whether or not to continue with this endeavor, it is important that you know how to read. If you can read this, you should continue. If you can't, then someone else is probably reading it to you. Let them continue.
2. How to write. In order to respond to writers who have submitted material for editorial review, you'll need to know how to write; however, many of your comments may be generic and stored in a file for ease in responding. In that case, all you will need to know how to do is press the right key.
3. How to spell. An essential part of any written communication is the ability to spell.
See if you can find the misspelled word or words in this list:
• Cat
• Hare
• There
• Bare
• Silver
All but the last word are misspelled. You probably used Spell-Check, which didn't catch the fact that the first four words should be: Bat, Hair, Their and Bear.
4. How to punctuate. Every complete sentence should have at least one punctuation mark. In the foregoing sentence, it was the dot at the end (also called a "period"). In the second sentence were the comma, the parentheses, the quotation marks - and the period. In the third sentence were the comma, the comma, the comma, and the dash. In the fourth sentence were the... well, you get the idea.
5. How to pontificate. When reviewing and commenting on the works of others, you must be able to express your opinion in an annoyingly pompous way. Arrogance will certainly help.
6. How to comprehend. You'll be getting feedback from writers whose work you have reviewed; you will need to be able to recognize ridicule, sarcasm, innuendo, and threats.
7. How to condense. Much of the writing you will see tends to be too long-winded. You'll need to be able to cut the heart out of the subject, leaving only enough words to fill the allotted space.
8. How to format. As on this page you should see regular type, bold-face type, paragraphs, a numbered list, and a bulleted list. Know the difference.
There are two more things to complete the list of what you need to know to be an editor, but if we told you what they are then you and anyone else reading this could be an editor. Soon, there would be no writers - only editors. We don't want that.
You can read more of Jerry's writing on Yahoo Contributor Network by logging on to his profile at http://contributor.yahoo.com/user/1816670/jerry_schmidt_esq.html.
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