About Me

In 1979 I was assigned my first independent typing project.  I worked at a public relations firm in midtown Manhattan and my boss' husband was a bestselling author.  She asked me to type, proofread, and edit his current project.  So there I sat at my IBM Selectric with Correction Tape typewriter, ready for each and every word to pass through my fingers.  (I took 16 years of piano lessons so my fingers were ready, but could I actually do this job... and do it well?)  I hadn't realized it, but in the year before I typed this manuscript, I had become an outstanding typist and proofreader.  You see, my boss insisted that each and every letter I type (to hundreds of companies) not be photocopied with just a new inside address manually inserted at the top of each one.  She insisted I type every letter as an original, each with a different inside address, and use the prior letter as copy to "proof" as I was typing the next letter.  Then I had to read each and every word of every letter, in reverse, so that my mind's eye would not overcome what was actually on paper.  I would read each word independent of the prior word, not having to pay attention to context, just spelling.  I was the original "spell checker".  Little did I know at that time I developed a unique ability to separate my mind's eye from the written word.  I learned that being good at spelling and grammar really had no bearing on the the type of proofreader you are.  It was that mind's eye that would get you every time... except for me.  From that point forward, I couldn't read without typing or proofreading the text in my mind.  Flowing through my fingers in the many years that followed were screenplays, magazines, manuscripts, corporate procedures manuals, tens of thousands of pages of court transcripts for very busy court reporters, and so much more. I am as proud now of every word I type, proofread, and edit as I was of those first words thirty years ago.