Sunday 15 September 2013

Hands-on copy editing

Looking around the web for insurance. Just in case someone trips up! A horror I will certainly bring about by one of my frilly Knicker Drawer Note Books.

The unfortunate, innocent, injured party is never able to work again.

Then know the horrors and disasters I can bring on!

Maybe someone cooks with my cook's notebook. Or attempts actual time travel, using my notebook with the dismembered clock bits sewn on the cover. Maybe someone very reasonably eats one of my notebooks. Or uses the one with the aeroplane charm for flight, launching themselves out the bedroom window.

Hundreds of people could take me to court! Thousands!

But I find I can be insured against claims involving hospitalisation, harm, and distress. Not, however, psychological scars caused by any words used in my books.

Words? I cannot be insured against them in my crafty business.

I consider the harm I can do with words - to the word themselves, and to other people using my bad, evil, crafty, emotional game-playing words, or my slap-in-the-face blasphemies. Then I am comforted with this.

Copy-editing or proofreading. A hands-on therapy where the therapist will be touching the patient.

I suddenly recall my time spent copy-editing and proofreading; I regretfully realise that I could have defined my job as word therapy and, thus being insured, might have been able to strangle the author and get away with it.

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