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Subject:Re: FW: (Writing and) Editing as a career From:Michael Lewis <lewism -at- BRANDLE -dot- COM -dot- AU> Date:Wed, 14 Jan 1998 10:15:29 +1100
David Slonosky wrote:
> ... I know that even if I proofread my own stuff, I'll invariably
> miss *something*. I'm too close to my own writing style to catch tiny
> mistakes, because my brain fills in over the mistake and I don't notice
> it, if that makes any sense.
It more than makes sense: it happens to all of us. Part of the problem
is that writers put a lot of intellectual effort into their work; when
they read something back while it's still fresh in the mind, they don't
really read it -- they just use the "marks on paper" to remind them of
what they think they wrote!
Similarly, it's very hard to identify lapses of clarity in your own
writing -- you know *exactly* what you meant; it's perfectly clear!
--
Michael Lewis
Brandle Pty Limited, Sydney, Australia
PO Box 1249, Strawberry Hills, NSW 2012
Tel +61-2-9310-2224 ... Fax +61-2-9310-5056