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Sometimes things go up
Jun. 23rd, 2005 08:26 amEvery once in a while, something lifts the edges of the downward spiral for a little bit. I got a surprise email at work last night (which was my late night on the copy desk) from the woman who is taking over Copy Editor newsletter (from one of the few serious stars in editing, Barbara Walraff, author of the excellent book on grammar and usage, Word Court) asking me if I would mind speaking at a CE-run seminar in Seattle. She got my email address from our main editor in NY, and I was surprised he'd remember me, let alone recommend me. It turned out, after I told her I'd love to do it, that she'd been searching for me for a while, after looking for editors in the Seattle area who taught and spoke at classes, and with my kind of experience.
Apparently she'd had a hell of a time finding how to get in touch with me, though, but found out where I worked now, and since she and our managing editor knew each other at Oxford (!), she had a good excuse to call him. I'm just flabbergasted that anyone in such a high-profile place would even notice my name in these class and other listings, and that they would go to an effort to find me. I don't think I'm that good an editor, really, just that I've been lucky in the kinds of weird jobs I've had, and worked for some well-known companies. And I'm not afraid to speak in public, which is a major plus.
The kind of "life in the trenches" discussion is what I'm really good at, also, and that's one aspect of the writing and editing classes that gets the belly laughs and the interest. People love to hear about how this sort of skill is put to use, especially if you can frame it humorously. So it was a really lovely egoboo at a really down time (last night was harder than most as I had been looking at pics of my sister and crying a lot).
And a nice antidote to things like getting kicked off teh music community on LJ for not "participating" enough and for not having a convenient and organized and peppy enough life that I noticed one little admin post saying I had to click a link or prove my participation in order to stay in the community. Way to kick someone when they're down. I can barely dress myself some days; the notion of seeing an admin post to prove yourself or get the boot is just way beyond my ability level these days.
Moral of the story, I guess, is that some people suck, and some people really shine.
Apparently she'd had a hell of a time finding how to get in touch with me, though, but found out where I worked now, and since she and our managing editor knew each other at Oxford (!), she had a good excuse to call him. I'm just flabbergasted that anyone in such a high-profile place would even notice my name in these class and other listings, and that they would go to an effort to find me. I don't think I'm that good an editor, really, just that I've been lucky in the kinds of weird jobs I've had, and worked for some well-known companies. And I'm not afraid to speak in public, which is a major plus.
The kind of "life in the trenches" discussion is what I'm really good at, also, and that's one aspect of the writing and editing classes that gets the belly laughs and the interest. People love to hear about how this sort of skill is put to use, especially if you can frame it humorously. So it was a really lovely egoboo at a really down time (last night was harder than most as I had been looking at pics of my sister and crying a lot).
And a nice antidote to things like getting kicked off teh music community on LJ for not "participating" enough and for not having a convenient and organized and peppy enough life that I noticed one little admin post saying I had to click a link or prove my participation in order to stay in the community. Way to kick someone when they're down. I can barely dress myself some days; the notion of seeing an admin post to prove yourself or get the boot is just way beyond my ability level these days.
Moral of the story, I guess, is that some people suck, and some people really shine.
