Write Or Wrong?

I am a word nerd — a sentence geek.  I love to edit writing for grammar, punctuation, spelling and verb-tense errors.  I enjoy helping people organize their content into a smooth, professional presentation.  The way I experience this process is probably similar to how an artist molds pottery.  It is fun, yet challenging, to get to the final product.  In the end, you are rewarded with a beautiful piece of art.

I arrived here via myriad detours during my journey – what it is I want to do with my life.  When I was in high school, I hated my English classes.  In fact, I was in a “special” reading group.  For me, reading was a punishment.  And if you don’t read well, you probably can’t write well. 

Over the years, my contempt for reading and writing became a passion.  It started when Mrs. Sheftel, my crotchety shorthand teacher, pounded punctuation into my head during my junior and senior years of high school.  I hated it, and I hated her for it!  However, it served me well in the following five years that I was employed as an executive secretary.  I argued with my boss over every comma, dash and (especially) acronym.  I won every time.

Five years into my marriage, we started a family.  My husband and I agreed that I was going to be a full-time mother.  Even if I wanted to return to work back then, it wasn’t financially feasible.  My paycheck would go straight to daycare, and I wouldn’t have enough money to maintain a professional wardrobe.  Back then, there was no such thing as a work-at-home job.  I was stuck.

When my sons (15 mos. apart) were of walking and talking age, I came to the conclusion I needed a college degree.  I began taking night classes at a local college.  I decided I wanted to become a medical records coder.  There is a serious detour for you!  I don’t know what I was thinking.

I took one course per semester.  After all, these were science courses!  I wasn’t very good at that subject.  Fortunately, I pulled off all A’s.  Unfortunately, I stopped short of earning my degree.  While I was on an internship, my mother was on vacation in Maine.  She died in her sleep in her hotel room.  It was completely unexpected, and it sent me into a tailspin.

Eventually, I recovered.  My children began public school.  I decided to take a psychology course at our community college.  I have always been a psychology buff.  I was doing this more for fun and adult interaction than anything else.  I loved it! 

After a few semesters, I decided to become a “disability” specialist.  It is a two-year program.  Part of what motivated me to do this is I had learned one of my sons is learning disabled.  There are an awful lot of legalities dealing with this in the public school system.  I had to be my son’s advocate, and I was determined to know the system — inside and out.  It helped.  I found myself filing a 504 complaint (long story) against my school district for discrimination against my son.  I won.  The teacher was fired.  The rest is history.

I digress.  While I attended community college, a friend/classmate urged me to join the school newspaper.  The prospect of interviewing people and writing articles left a pit in my stomach.  I didn’t want to do it, but I figured I would do such an awful job that they would just get rid of me!  That would be that.

That did not happen.  I discovered my love for the process of writing.  It was extremely rewarding.  Soon, I was charged with editing fellow staff members’ submissions.  The more time I spent editing those articles, the more proficient I became at crafting my own writing skills.  Subsequently, I was promoted to co-editor of that newspaper.  I still have fond memories of that experience.

The same friend who nudged me into working for the newspaper urged me to follow her to the same four-year college she was attending — as an English major.  That is exactly what I did!  Unfortunately, that college did not have a student newspaper.  I felt a painful void.  Sadly, my dear friend passed away at the young age of 22 before I was able to join her at the university.  She had a form of muscular dystrophy and was aided by the use of a motorized wheel chair.  The doctors told her mother she would not live beyond her first four years.  She defied them.

At the age of 46, I graduated as an English major with a minor in Women’s Studies.  Of course, journalism is a completely different animal than it was when I embarked on this journey some twelve years ago.  Newspapers are falling by the wayside.  Nonetheless, I continue to write as a form of expression.  I’ve received several writing awards and presented a symposium on Charlotte Bronte.  My excerpts are published in a book, The ADD Forum.  I have had countless LTE’s published in my local newspaper.  Finally, I was published in TV Guide.

That, my friends, is how I went from a mediocre reader in high school to a skilled reader and writer over the decades.  In my blog posts, I will try to teach you and challenge you on all things written-language.  I look forward to sharing those skills with you!  If I can help you with my professional services, click on theproofperfect link.  Leave me an email, and mention you found me on this blog.  I will offer you a discount on my initial assignment.  I look forward to sharing the ups and downs of writing with you!