To all:

If you were trying to get a hold of me this weekend on my cell or I didn’t call you back like I was supposed to, it’s because my beautiful, funky, fun new phone has crapped out.

I’ll be at T-Mobile today if you need me.

-A

So I’m done for the semester. I took my last final and handed in my last paper, and I’m done. Well, at least until fall.

I’m doing an independent study this summer to get credit for my internship, but that will be different. I won’t have to attend class each week, and I’ll be doing my own research and writing about my observations at the publishing house. I’m very excited.

Next fall should be so much easier class-wise, but I’m going to be busy again because I am the new editor-in-chief of my university’s student literary magazine, Cellar Roots. It will be a wild ride, one I am looking forward to greatly.

My classmates in my Technical Editing class asked what I got on the midterm (they were trying to gauge how high of a score they would have to get on the final to get a decent grade, and since the midterm was graded on a curve, they were asking everyone), and I reluctantly told them: 98%.

They started whining in front of the prof, asking him how they were going to pass.

He shrugged his shoulders and responded with, “What do you expect?

“She’s an editor.”

One of the best compliments I’ve gotten in a long while.

All that facial swelling? You know what it’s from?

Sinus infection.

Let’s all collectively roll our eyes at modern medicine.

Editing Fact and Fiction: A Concise Guide to Book Editing by Leslie T. Sharpe and Irene Gunther

I had forgotten how much this book rocks until I picked it up today to find more resources for my client project report for my Technical Editing class. It has so much good advice, and it’s not wordy or hard to read. This book allows you to sit back, relax, and enjoy learning about the craft of editing. And it covers so much! From mass market fiction books to reference books and on, this little text is a great resource for an editor at any level. Here’s some tidbits from the ladies of editing:

“As an editor, you have to want to do a good job for yourself” (101).

“Furthermore, detailed descriptions of absolutely ordinary scenes add nothing to a book’s development. In fact, they risk breaking the flow and, worse, losing the reader. An editor should tactfully alert an author to these problems and possibly suggest cuts” (118).

“For an editor, this means understanding a writer’s intent and considering his words in context. She does this by listening to what the writer is trying to say and how he is saying it—and never substituting her own voice for his” (124).

“Editors need to listen to writers talk—about their work, about themselves, and about the creative process” (143).

I wanted to write a beautiful tribute to Kurt Vonnegut, like Natasha did, or a cool, to-the-point comment, like Froyd did, but, in reality, I don’t know enough of Vonnegut’s work to do either. So I’ll just say this:

The literature (and free-thinking) world lost a great man when Kurt Vonnegut passed. I know we will all feel it.

I’m going to go get Slaughterhouse Five and read it. And then I’m going to read the rest of his work. It’s the best tribute I can muster for a man I never knew but respected. And I think any writer would appreciate that sort of memoriam.

There’s nothing really to say about the health stuff right now. I had a skin test done and had five allergy injections put in my arm all to show that I’m not allergic to anything common. So now it’s process of elimination. I see the family practitioner on Monday. We’ll see if the vampires want more blood and what other super-duper fun tests they want to do now. The allergy meds seemed to help a little (they didn’t make the swelling go away, but they seemed to keep it under control) because when I went off of them, I looked like crap the next two mornings. We’ll see what happens from here.

Now you are all up on the situation. Aren’t you happy you are?

My very cool new iMac. Too bad it’s not mine at home. Just for work. But I LOVE it. Our next computer at home will be a Mac. I know I’m going to get a ton of crap for that, but I don’t care.

Me + Mac = Happiness.

My memory has been failing me a lot this semester, mostly since all this health stuff has taken the forefront in my life. It seems that school has been put second in the line of importance, and then my work at the journal comes in third. The worst part is when I’m worried about #1, #2 is keeping me busy, and I forget about a meeting with #3. I feel like the biggest ass in the world, especially when my supervisor wrote me a note at 2 p.m. asking me where we should meet and I don’t get it until almost 4. Thank you crappy university e-mail system.

I can blame the e-mail. I can blame my health. I could even blame the doctors for taking their dear sweet time figuring out what’s wrong with me.

But I can’t.

I have to blame me. And that hurts. A lot.

I actually got all my homework done. The day BEFORE class. Impressive, I know. If I could do this all the time, I wouldn’t be nearly as frazzled a human being as I usually am. You wonder how I’ve survived this long? By the skin of my teeth. (I just freakin’ love that saying. Had to put it in here, that’s all.)