GO FORTH AND EDIT

I'm an obsessive editor. I didn't say I'm a perfect editor; I'm just obsessed about editing. Or more exactly, proofreading. You see, I make a lot of typos. A LOT. Seriously, the best things ever invented were the backspace and delete keys. My typing fingers just have minds of their own - or maybe they are just faster than my brain. They just get going and they get so far ahead that they start to make mistakes, stumbling over each other. I have been able to train them a bit over the years, though. Sometimes they just tap the backspace key before I've even realized I made a mistake.

I suppose the obsession started in college. I learned to proofread everything because a well crafted sentence may just be the one thing that sets you apart and earns you that higher grade. I started proofreading my emails when I started to work as a legal secretary in DeKalb, Illinois. The boss gently suggested one day I might want to proofread my emails before I sent them out. The thought, somehow, had never occurred to me before. This is when email was just getting started. I'd sent handwritten or even typed letters and wouldn't have thought of stamping them and throwing them in the mailbox without reading them first - but email? Go figure. But I did it and I realized, "Wow, I'm a typomaniac." So I started proofreading all of my emails. When I became a paralegal, I continued. In a law firm, the appearance of meticulous accuracy is of utmost importance, so, naturally, you want that to trickle through down to every last email.

So it became a habit. I proofread work emails, home emails, and emails to myself. I'm not saying they never get through without a single mistake but they do get through with a lot less than if I hadn't done that final check. When texting came along, I continued. I proofread every text I send, even to my kids, and even to make sure I have the correct texting shorthand.

The ability to proofread and edit is one of the many things I love about written words. If I only could do it before my mouth opens and I speak, the world would be far better place. So my advice about proofreading is you don't have to be obsessive like me, but when you are communicating in business or with anyone who has any control over your fate, don't skimp on proofreading.

-The Wordsy Woman