MichaelPrewitt.com

Seems wherever I go, I end up writing editorial style guides!

At my previous workplace, Young Disciple Ministries, I compiled the original style guidelines — which at first amounted to only one or two pages of very basic rules. Apparently that task defaulted to me because I fussed the most. Although editing was a secondary part of my job, I had always been a stickler for editorial consistency and grammatical correctness. I did not recognize it for many years, but I learned I had a pretty good eye and ear for correct grammar and construction, even when I didn’t know a participle from a misplaced modifier.

Later I went on to teach a college class in copyediting and proofreading. I think I did pretty well at it, despite sometimes learning the material barely in time to teach it! Once an older visitor to my class knew more about the subject than I did — so much more, in fact, that I couldn’t even understand her questions. That kept me humble. Shortcomings aside, I was a quick learner, and was soon up to speed.

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