The Beginning
Have you ever felt like you would probably be really good at something, then find out that when you try it you aren’t as good as you thought you were?
How did you respond to that? If you are like me, you found out that there were things you did not know. And more things you did not know that you did not know! Recently, I took a course in proofreading. It seemed right up my alley. I talked about it with my husband, took the free seminar, and then signed up for the course. I figured it would take me a couple of weeks to work through the required course sections and then be on my way to making money with a new business.
WRONG! There are so many aspects of grammar and language that I use every day, but I do not know why, or how to describe them. Suddenly, this was not a sure thing, something I could just slip right into.
Dig in and learn
I dug in to learn all I could. The first few days felt like mental boot camp as I tried to learn and remember how to use the resources that were recommended. Over and over, I read the same instructions in each section: Take your time, learn well, get familiar with looking up words and grammar rules.
At first, I complained to myself about how I was so rusty. How would I ever be able to be confident in my skills? Work was the only answer. Study, work on a new skill, go back and learn, really learn, the parts of speech and how they are punctuated in different sentences. Move to the next section and repeat.
I am still learning, still working on bettering the excellence that I have achieved. But it is with the joy of knowing that it is meant to be this way. I do not have to achieve the pinnacle of knowledge, just a high degree of dexterity in finding the answers that people more learned than I have made available in huge volumes of information—that I can access any time I need to!
Last line of defense
And along the way, there are other people who are willing to interact and help and guide and walk alongside. I am happy to be joining this unique group of folks called proofreaders. I like to think of us as the last line of defense for an author. Before you publish your post, book, web page, or advertisement, we make sure that what is read will be understood, spelled correctly, and punctuated properly. Before you put your money into getting your work in print, consider having a proofreader check it over first. We want your work to be the best and most enjoyable read it can be!