My laptop died...and only five weeks to go before this school-year ends!
The drama, the mourning. I spent the day walking around the house as if something had been taken away from me. How will I survive without my most precious asset: spell & grammar check?
I contacted a friend to tell her the bad news. She said she had a spare computer I could borrow for a couple of months, but it didn’t have Word 2007. This can’t be happening!
For the past three years I've relied on only one system, which had spell & grammar check customised to best suit my weaknesses.
“Oh well, no need to be precious,” I thought. “You'll need to rely on what you have learnt during editing classes.”
Last year, I lived for over a month without access to technology: no computers, no mobile phones, no music, and even hot water was a struggle to obtain. It was back to basics, but I survived and only missed music and toilet paper. Writing wasn‘t an issue, as pen and paper (which wasn't suitable for wiping) was available. Is the death of my laptop another learning curve?
I moved on and started a few assignments, as I believed that the universe killed my laptop because it wanted me to trust in my capability to produce well-structured writing with minimal technological help.
It felt like being in editing class. I scrutinised every sentence. Am I using the right pronoun? Is it the correct verb tense? Should I use a comma or semi colon? And so on. It was fascinating to notice how much my brain had absorbed since starting the course, but I was still waiting for that famous moment when they say it all comes together.
Last night while I was on the phone with my mate, it finally happened. He was telling me a story when I saw the beautiful bright light: the sentence he just said had a dangling modifier. “Way to go, Mark,” said the voice in my head.
I still have a long way to go, but I'm amazed by the knowledge gained in my first year of the Professional Writing & Editing course. Apart from improving my writing, it's also built my confidence to pursue a career that I'm extremely passionate about. The transformation from amateur to professional is happening at an exciting and sustainable pace. It feels real.
Five weeks to go and my first year is over. I'm dealing with an archaic computer system, but my mourning is over. I will be fine.
Thanks, Mark. I *am* pleased that it's all coming together -- and you can and should be able to rely on what you've learnt in Editing. I have my grammar check turned off. I do leave the spelling on, just in case, but I can't be bothered with the grammar check, which pulls me up every time I use a fragment -- and whenever there's a dispute about commas or whatever, I'm always right! lol. (Also, I hate Word. WordPerfect, WordPerfect, WordPerfect -- I know I'm alone in my chanting, but I am so in love with that program, which allows me to have my Australian dictionary, and has such wonderful features as Reveal Codes. How could I live without it?) Anyway, I'm sure you will be fine too!
ReplyDeleteTracey