I left my first job interview in tears. It’s not a story I share often, but here we go.
After my freshman year of college, I was home for the summer. My dad had a connection with someone at the local newspaper, and he set up an interview. I was studying to be an English major, so I thought, “Perfect!”
Yeah, not perfect.
I went for the interview, and the group of people tortured me with questions like, “So what do you like to write?” and “What classes have you been taking?” The nerve.
I told them I was taking British Literature, Cultural Perspectives, Communication Arts, Shakespeare, etc. Yeah, this isn’t exactly what a newspaper staff wants to hear. I told them I just wanted to edit. I didn’t really want to write, as the idea of interviewing people terrified 18-year-old me (and 22-year-old me, but I got over that quickly when I actually became a newspaper reporter). They told me they could use someone to write articles, but they didn’t really have enough fodder to have someone just sit and look for commas all day (it was a small-town paper, after all). And that’s when the waterworks decided to start working. I was a bit more sensitive and emotional as a teenager, believe it or not. Needless to say, I didn’t work for a newspaper that summer.
I did, however, spend my entire career—five good years before bebés—as a writer. People actually paid me to put words together. In the end, though, I still loved editing the best (writes the woman who consistently composes ridiculously long blog posts).
God gifts us all differently, and I know He gave me a talent with words, grammar, and punctuation. Not exactly the sexiest gift, I’ll admit, but a darn useful one!
But why am I sharing this with you? Good question.
I want you to know that if you need editing assistance, I’d love to help. My brain starts humming when I get to fix apostrophes and add missing commas. I love getting rid of passive voice and creating more interesting verbiage. I’m not a member of the Grammar Police, and I do make mistakes. However, I like to help when I can.
I enjoy editing pretty much anything except the following:
- Scientific articles (sorry, Husband!)
- Poetry (learned this weakness in college)
- Long, weird stories—with intimate details—about your family (yes, I have edited some of these.)
- Hunting articles about killing animals (yes, I also was paid to handle some of these.)
I’m offering this as a ministry to you. I’d love to help you get a foot up on a job application, enter a job interview with more confidence, or help with a professional biography. But if you send me your 250-page, young-adult, fantasy novel, I’m going to ask you for money.
I know most people don’t have a love of all things grammatical, so let me know if I can help, folks.
Send an email to ChristineBoatwrightBooks@gmail.com, and we can get started!