Proofreader: why become a proofreader?
Go back 35 years and I was one of those annoying children who always got 10/10 on their spelling test every week. I loved word games and puzzles, feeding my mathematical mind.
Go forward to my career in education. I annoyingly kept correcting everyone's grammar, until they started asking me to read through their work. My husband, Ian, begrudgingly asked me to check his blogs and training manuals, gutted by the simple mistakes that he hadn't spotted. His own personal proofreader! I couldn't read anything without spotting mistakes, it was quite irritating really.
Then I turned 40 and re-evaluated my life. I have always been the dreamer and Ian the realist keeping me in check. I am always planning and organising my life. Every minute is planned out on a list. Everyone laughs, but you have to have a dream.
So my dream is to move to Wales with Ian, work from home, have more time with my 2 boys and walk on the beach every day with my dog, Annie.
The obvious choice was proofreading. I had been supporting others all my career and felt it came naturally. I love learning new skills, so enjoyed going "back to school" and doing all the proofreading courses at the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading. My mathematical mind thrived on the BSI proofreading symbols and I was interested to see how there was so much more to proofreading than just spelling mistakes.
I love reading and always have a book on the go. At the moment I am reading Night Music by Jojo Moyes. She is one of my favourite authors, as well as Stephenie Meyer and J. K. Rowling. I am still a big kid at heart. I registered my child with his local library at 4 months old and both boys enjoy the library's summer reading scheme every year, even though not many others join in. Reading is a massive part of my life and what better than a job where you get to do something you love, you get to constantly learn new things and get paid? Wish me luck on my journey. I will keep you up to date with my blog, along with some proofreading tips to support you.
I am a freelance proofreader with a love of proofreading, feel free to contact me if you need support with your writing.
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Keywords
Grammar - the study of words, how they are used in sentences, and how they change in different situations. There are rules about sentence structure and how the language should be used.
Proofreading - examining your text carefully to find and correct mistakes in grammar, style, punctuation, consistency and spelling.
Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading - is a professional organisation based in the UK for editors and proofreaders – the people who strive to make text accurate and readable. https://www.ciep.uk/
BSI Proofreading symbols - the set of standard symbols issued by the British Standards Institute for proofreaders to use in the margin to mark a change. For example,
= delete the letters marked in the document