Unforseen Side Effects

Once you start editing, you can’t ever really stop.* You’d think you could leave the commas and semi-colons at the door once you leave whatever magazine/newspaper/website you’re working for, but it doesn’t work that way.**

You become an editor of everything – menus, billboards, banners. If you pass a car wash that used a possessive when it should have used a plural or vice versa, it irks you.

For 11 months, I lived down the street from Annnie’s Auto Repair and not having a talk with management took all the will power I had.

Then, before you know it, you’re taking pictures on your cell phone at garage sales because you just can’t believe the errors people make.

I might need help.

* I probably shouldn’t speak for all editors or former editors. Most of them are probably far less neurotic than I am. They probably have photos of their kids on their cell phones and not “hilarious” spelling errors.

** This post also in no way implies that I will not commit future spelling or grammatical errors.