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I wish my stuff were checked by an editor. When you see something too often it begins to fall off your radar.
One way to get around that is to print it and check it in hard copy. I find it makes a real difference, maybe because that way I can proof it under conditions other than standard work conditions. Reading it at different times, or in a different place, helps refocus my thinking.
On Saturday, November 1, 2014 5:47 PM, Richard Hamilton <dick -at- rlhamilton -dot- net> wrote:
Chris,
Good points, both from you and the previous respondents. It would seem like editors are a dying breed in corporate America. That said, at a recent STC Summit I ran into a fair number of people who are editors, though nearly all (maybe all; I didn't count:) were freelance. I can't remember the last time I met an editor who is employed full time in a corporate tech comm group.
Also, you noticed something I've noticed working with a bunch of different writers. Everyone has some blind spots. I have one writer who always uses "as" to mean "because," regardless of context, another (me) who overuses "that," others who are in love with passive voice, etc. I found that my self-editing has gotten better as I learned what my blind spots are. I still use an editor for any serious writing, but now I give the editor better content to start with.
Richard
-------
XML Press
XML for Technical Communicators http://xmlpress.net
hamilton -at- xmlpress -dot- net
On Nov 1, 2014, at 15:35, Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> I've worked on a four-person tech writing team a few years ago, where each
> of us was assigned chapters pertaining to different divisions. We had an
> overseer, but he contributed next to nothing (and we had to train *him*).
> Since it appeared no one else was going to take it on, I voluntarily edited
> the final 700+ pp deliverable, providing the unifying voice and deleting as
> many instances of "particular" (one writer's crutch) as I could.
>
> For one of my current clients, they've never had a tech writer, nor anyone
> editing anything they do. It shows! They finally took on a full-time
> marketing director, but she's more of a design/conceptual person, as
> opposed to being a copywriter/grammarian. Along with the work they've
> assigned to me, I make every attempt to grab what I can on the fly and
> quickly edit itâjust because I can't stand to see them embarrass themselves.
>
>> Chris
>
> On Sat, Nov 1, 2014 at 2:22 PM, Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>
> wrote:
>
>> I've never worked as a tech writer or interviewed for a job anywhere
>> that had an editor.
>>
>> One of my former co-workers is a technical editor. I believe she's the
>> only native speaker in the department and the writers are all in
>> India.
>>
>> On Sat, Nov 1, 2014 at 1:57 PM, Richard Hamilton <dick -at- rlhamilton -dot- net>
>> wrote:
>>> I'm writing an article about editing, and I'm curious about what the
>> folks on this list think about the state of editing in the corporate world
>> today.
>>
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