This sums up my thoughts about life as a copyeditor — effectively polishing and perfecting someone’s writing draws on that vast knowledge of trivia I have accumulated over the years, as well as my expertise with commas and semicolons!
“One of the things I like about my job is that it draws on the entire person: not just your knowledge of grammar and punctuation and usage and foreign languages and literature but also your experience of travel, gardening, shipping, singing, plumbing, Catholicism, Midwesternism, mozzarella, the A train, New Jersey. And in turn it feeds you more experience. The popular image of the copy editor is of someone who favors rigid consistency. I don’t usually think of myself that way. But, when pressed, I do find I have strong views about commas.”
