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Writing, Editing and Proofreading: A Love Relationship Subsequent editors expanded the magazine to include articles and a hotline column. When I was co-editor, we added fiction and poetry. It was volunteer work, but the experience was great! I was involved in all aspects of creating the magazine. I wrote editorials, articles (both fiction and nonfiction), typed, proofread, created illustrations and did paste-up. I loved the creative aspects of writing and editing and the detailed work of research and proofreading. Later, I saw an ad for a paste-up artist for a compositor’s house. I applied and was hired. Soon, I was promoted to make-up proofreader. This sounds like it’s involved with cosmetics, but it’s not. The work ensures the fonts are correct, all work is placed according to specs and all errors have been corrected. If we found misspellings or grammatical errors, we were not allowed to correct them. We had to query the author or editor. I loved the research and detail work, but missed the creative aspect. I learned a lot about the work that goes into getting a traditional book published. Our clients were major publishing houses. The books were primarily technical or textbooks. We would get the manuscripts, which were typed into galleys on long sheets of paper. These were proofread and returned to the author and editor. They were revised and returned to us. They were printed onto acetone film and then pasted up. They were make-up proofread, then returned to the author and editor for more revision. The final product was pages on blue paper with yellow writing. They were proofread again. Finally they were sent to the author and editor for final revisions. About a year later, I obtained another job as an editor. The book was a challenge! The author was a relative of the publisher. He told me that was the only reason why he was publishing it. The manuscript was single-spaced. The manuscript was so filled with typos and misspellings it was hard to tell which was which. The grammar was an English teacher’s worst nightmare coming true. I made numerous queries. By the time I was finished editing, the manuscript was barely legible. I told the publisher the printer would barely be able to read it. I said he should think about having a professional typist retype it. He had a better idea. He asked me to retype it. I am not a typist, but agreed to do so. I had a manual portable typewriter. The book was boring. The typing was tedious, but it was a good learning experience. I learned more about goal setting and pacing myself. Large projects can be intimidating. I break the large project into smaller ones. It’s easy to do with books. Chapters are the natural breaking points if they exist. If not, I set a certain number of pages. When the work is complete, I take a short break. I might eat something or play with my kitten. I make sure I do something I enjoy. Sometimes, we get blocked like writers do. When this happens, I stop and do something physical like housework or dancing and get my conscious mind off of the book. I believe the subconscious records everything. I allow the subconscious to work on it. Usually the answer comes in fifteen minutes or less. All work can be frustrating at times. Although I love my computer and software, I am still learning and get frustrated at times. When I do, I mentally repeat the word “cancel” three times. This gets into the subconscious and helps. When I complete a large project, I reward myself by buying something I want or going out to dinner with a friend. When I get frustrated with the computer, thinking about my treat helps motivation. I enjoy my work with American Book Publishing. I like the people and the esprit de corps. This opportunity has given me the opportunity to use my creativity, research and detail work. It really is a “dream” job. By Jill Stefko a senior editor for American Book Publishing. © 2005 American Book Publishing™ *All other trademarks used by permission. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy and
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