Much needed news
People who do not live with me probably also want to know: I got the copy editing job! I have been working for two weeks now. (Sorry about the update slowness!)
Here is a picture of my building:
The Education Center is on the top two floors. I'm not really sure what's on the first floor--it usually looks deserted there. I work on the 3rd floor: the editorial floor. You need a passcode to make the elevator go there. The 2nd floor is HR, marketing, sales, finance, and the receptionist. My floor is the copy editors (there are three of us), the artists, the Internet team, the editors for each grade level, the library, the book planners, tech support, and a slew of assistant editors. All told there are about 100 in my building, and somewhere there's a Mill Street building (the printing house) with another 15 or so that are in printing and shipping. I've never even seen that building. HR are the only people I know on the 2nd floor, but I'm starting to get to know the ones who work near me, especially my "team" (the other two copy editors and our supervisor) and the people I walk with.
I think I am fitting in well. As I mentioned, if it's not raining I've been spending my breaks (we get two 15-minute paid breaks, one at 10 and one at 3) walking with the other copy editors and a handful of others. When I say walking, I mean POWER-walking--I can only chat with the others for the first part before I start puffing. At first I was only going to be social, but I admit I do like the wake-up call and the warm-up opportunity that it affords. My office is usually freezing, and concentrating for so long can make me sleepy.
Everyone is quite nice. Nearly everyone who works there is female, which is unusual but very pleasant, probably because everyone is so nice. The artists are about half-and-half, both the tech people are male, and there's one guy book-planner... and that's it for my floor. Probably because everybody but the copy editors, the artists, tech, and the librarian has to have had experience as an elementary school teacher, and most of those are women.
My work is very, very difficult. Whew. I'll be honest--I thought I would be a whiz at it after the first week, but there's a lot to catch on to. The most senior copy editor, Tazmen (who went to USI, btw) has been shadowing my work and is supposed to continue to do so for the next two weeks. I'll catch like 50 mistakes in a stack of folders--and then she'll catch 5 more. Everyone seems to think I'm coming along just fine, but I am frustrated by the mistakes--not so much by the inevitable style misunderstandings as by the mistakes where I know better and just didn't catch it. I seem to have a real weakness for the word "if" (when it should be "whether") and for two words that should be one word (like "light bulb"--or "lightbulb," as the dictionary would say). I am getting better, though, as I know better what to pay extra attention to now. Thank goodness for the breaks and for my lunch breaks, though... it can be pretty taxing to keep up that level of concentration.
Oh yes, and I have my own office. I'll take a picture of it after I quit being lazy and bring in some wall-stuff--it's pretty sparse right now.
Two more things about my job and I'll move on: 1) I get to spend time with other grammar freaks. I had a conversation about restrictive phrases and another about the blasphemy of a particular use of the em-dash today alone. 2) This job has made me want kids BAD. I want someone to bring me home construction paper suns!!! You try reading elementary school activities all day long.
In other news, I played bridge at the club again last night. I was declarer for the vast majority of the hands and did very well--it was definitely an "on" night for me. My first-time partner Brenda was impressed and had a good time despite being dummy most of the evening... by about halfway through she was asking for my mother's number so she could tell her that I had a new mom now. Lol. Brenda has bridge dates for the rest of the month already, but starting in October we're going to try playing together regularly. We got 2nd in C and B last night.
There are plans for excitements in the future, and if I go further back I could have more to say, but I've been at it for about an hour now, and I'm sure you tire of reading. I'll try to get better about keeping this thing up to date.
--Kathy Coop
(Copy Editor)
Here is a picture of my building:
The Education Center is on the top two floors. I'm not really sure what's on the first floor--it usually looks deserted there. I work on the 3rd floor: the editorial floor. You need a passcode to make the elevator go there. The 2nd floor is HR, marketing, sales, finance, and the receptionist. My floor is the copy editors (there are three of us), the artists, the Internet team, the editors for each grade level, the library, the book planners, tech support, and a slew of assistant editors. All told there are about 100 in my building, and somewhere there's a Mill Street building (the printing house) with another 15 or so that are in printing and shipping. I've never even seen that building. HR are the only people I know on the 2nd floor, but I'm starting to get to know the ones who work near me, especially my "team" (the other two copy editors and our supervisor) and the people I walk with.
I think I am fitting in well. As I mentioned, if it's not raining I've been spending my breaks (we get two 15-minute paid breaks, one at 10 and one at 3) walking with the other copy editors and a handful of others. When I say walking, I mean POWER-walking--I can only chat with the others for the first part before I start puffing. At first I was only going to be social, but I admit I do like the wake-up call and the warm-up opportunity that it affords. My office is usually freezing, and concentrating for so long can make me sleepy.
Everyone is quite nice. Nearly everyone who works there is female, which is unusual but very pleasant, probably because everyone is so nice. The artists are about half-and-half, both the tech people are male, and there's one guy book-planner... and that's it for my floor. Probably because everybody but the copy editors, the artists, tech, and the librarian has to have had experience as an elementary school teacher, and most of those are women.
My work is very, very difficult. Whew. I'll be honest--I thought I would be a whiz at it after the first week, but there's a lot to catch on to. The most senior copy editor, Tazmen (who went to USI, btw) has been shadowing my work and is supposed to continue to do so for the next two weeks. I'll catch like 50 mistakes in a stack of folders--and then she'll catch 5 more. Everyone seems to think I'm coming along just fine, but I am frustrated by the mistakes--not so much by the inevitable style misunderstandings as by the mistakes where I know better and just didn't catch it. I seem to have a real weakness for the word "if" (when it should be "whether") and for two words that should be one word (like "light bulb"--or "lightbulb," as the dictionary would say). I am getting better, though, as I know better what to pay extra attention to now. Thank goodness for the breaks and for my lunch breaks, though... it can be pretty taxing to keep up that level of concentration.
Oh yes, and I have my own office. I'll take a picture of it after I quit being lazy and bring in some wall-stuff--it's pretty sparse right now.
Two more things about my job and I'll move on: 1) I get to spend time with other grammar freaks. I had a conversation about restrictive phrases and another about the blasphemy of a particular use of the em-dash today alone. 2) This job has made me want kids BAD. I want someone to bring me home construction paper suns!!! You try reading elementary school activities all day long.
In other news, I played bridge at the club again last night. I was declarer for the vast majority of the hands and did very well--it was definitely an "on" night for me. My first-time partner Brenda was impressed and had a good time despite being dummy most of the evening... by about halfway through she was asking for my mother's number so she could tell her that I had a new mom now. Lol. Brenda has bridge dates for the rest of the month already, but starting in October we're going to try playing together regularly. We got 2nd in C and B last night.
There are plans for excitements in the future, and if I go further back I could have more to say, but I've been at it for about an hour now, and I'm sure you tire of reading. I'll try to get better about keeping this thing up to date.
--Kathy Coop
(Copy Editor)