The instructional materials covered in this post include editorial comments, author queries, an editor’s ego, copyediting, and style guide/sheets. In other words, a lot has happened in the last couple weeks! Here’s the rundown.

What did you read or watch that surprised, delighted or disappointed you? Why?

I think it’s a little disappointing to hear that editors sometimes are arrogant and that relationships between editors and writers can be damaged. I view an editor’s role as a partnership with writers/authors and their main goal is to help writers suggest ways to make their content the best it can be. If an editor has this in mind, their primary concern is not with being right or having authority.

How did the ideas from the instructional materials support your work on assignments in the course?

The instructional materials covered a lot, but I think I will see them at work more in future assignments. For example, I’ll be using the lecture information over style sheets/guides more when I start working on the last major project of the class. However, they have started to be useful in some ways. When I was drafting the client letter for our first major assignment in the class, I did stay mindful of how I may come across to the reader of the letter. This was based on the negative things that can happen when editors don’t have clarity and politeness in their feedback.

What was most meaningful for your own career goals? Why? (If you cannot easily address your career goals, answer based on your course goals.)

It might sound egotistical to say this, but I think I have a pretty good handle on how I leave feedback to my writer peers. I don’t think my ego is out of control. Once upon a time, I was very sensitive when reading feedback and critiques others left on my writing. Fortunately, I have outgrown a lot of that. But I think this experience made me sensitive to how someone may receive feedback I leave. So, I lean towards being pretty gentle or careful.

However, this means I leave a lot of, what I call, “soft suggestions.” In other words, even if I think a suggestion might be nice for reasons like clarity but the content isn’t wrong, I sometimes may still only gently suggest it. I might lean towards downplaying a little to ensure I don’t offend, since sometimes I know my suggestion could also be my own personal style influencing the suggestion. But after the last couple weeks, I feel encouraged and confident that I can be a little firmer but still have the level of politeness and respect necessary when suggesting revisions.

I also think I will work on providing more “payoff” statements in my feedback. I think I do well to justify how my suggestion makes sense, but not how it helps achieve an end goal.

All this to say, as someone who peer reviews other technical writers now, I think I will provide even more valuable feedback and suggestions for them.