Workday Nine
With vacation over, work continues apace. The last two days haven't been overly hectic, but I'm still learning all the processes and organizational systems, and I will be for a while. This produces a strong "My brain is full" effect starting at about 3 PM.
The library room in which I work is a real thing of beauty: wood paneling, bookshelves lining all the nooks which house the editors' desks, a balcony level that fully rings the space while overlooking a large boardroom-type table. I'm up on the balcony, and I have a window right there too. I need to get some plants.
The department is extremely accurate and organized, to an extent that much of what I have to learn involves what schedule spreadsheets to update and when, and which transmittal forms to fill out in triplicate while sending revised proofs to the design department, etc. Everyone is extremely friendly, and well in the quirky-intellectual territory that is my own element. They all know exactly where to put their commas too, needless to say.
After my brain got full today I spent the last half hour catching up on filing while trying to think of better names for various office supplies.
That's, starting at top left, "blandbuffer," "grindum," "slizzer," "magnit," "penciltorium," "staple toothy," and "extra lubs." It's "extra lubs" because there are like eight more of these than I need on my bookshelf.
Proofreading tasks occupy less of my time by volume than the administrative tasks, but somewhat more time by weight, if that makes sense. I'm told I have a very good eye for this, which is good, because I find proofreading surprisingly satisfying.
I will be copy editing small sections of books here and there, basically whatever prefaces or other new material is added to reprinted books. It's good to have this on my desk too, since it's likely to be relatively interesting. (Copy editing can involve reworking the text for phrasing, clarity, or even larger scale structure, whereas proofreading involves essentially catching typos and grammatical errors in a previously edited text.)
So, I enter the double-digits of my working days optimistically.
The library room in which I work is a real thing of beauty: wood paneling, bookshelves lining all the nooks which house the editors' desks, a balcony level that fully rings the space while overlooking a large boardroom-type table. I'm up on the balcony, and I have a window right there too. I need to get some plants.
The department is extremely accurate and organized, to an extent that much of what I have to learn involves what schedule spreadsheets to update and when, and which transmittal forms to fill out in triplicate while sending revised proofs to the design department, etc. Everyone is extremely friendly, and well in the quirky-intellectual territory that is my own element. They all know exactly where to put their commas too, needless to say.
After my brain got full today I spent the last half hour catching up on filing while trying to think of better names for various office supplies.
That's, starting at top left, "blandbuffer," "grindum," "slizzer," "magnit," "penciltorium," "staple toothy," and "extra lubs." It's "extra lubs" because there are like eight more of these than I need on my bookshelf.
Proofreading tasks occupy less of my time by volume than the administrative tasks, but somewhat more time by weight, if that makes sense. I'm told I have a very good eye for this, which is good, because I find proofreading surprisingly satisfying.
I will be copy editing small sections of books here and there, basically whatever prefaces or other new material is added to reprinted books. It's good to have this on my desk too, since it's likely to be relatively interesting. (Copy editing can involve reworking the text for phrasing, clarity, or even larger scale structure, whereas proofreading involves essentially catching typos and grammatical errors in a previously edited text.)
So, I enter the double-digits of my working days optimistically.
1 Comments:
I know it's Deeply Weird. These were definitely the kind of thoughts that happen to you, rather than the kind you make up yourself.
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