Writing, Composing, and Editing.. Oh my!

Writer Kelly

As a writer, I love to incorporate my natural speaking voice and sense of humor (when it is appropriate). I love rhyming, alliterations, and plays on words. I am especially inspired as a writer by these two lovely ladies, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

It instills hope as a young female writer to see the success of these talented women as writers and comedic actresses in a business dominated by men. I do not plan on being a regular on SNL, but I do aspire to make my writing Emmy nod worthy in the future. I write with a purpose, whether it is to inform, persuade, or explain, and I try to have as much fun with it as possible.

Composer Kelly

This is normally how my composing process starts-

This is my roommate’s kitten, Brandon. I actually have a Facebook photo album dedicated to him labeled “proCrAsTination”. Once I get him off of my keyboard, I take a couple pictures with him:

I then look at the time and plan a Facebook break for the next top of the hour. AND THEN I begin! I read the assignment description, and like I learned back in fourth grade, I underline or ‘copy’ ‘paste’ what exactly the prompt is asking for. From there I start to sort through some brainstorming ideas.

Then, with the blank word document as my canvas, I start putting my thoughts onto digital paper. My first draft is typically not in the order it will end in. Consequently, the information still flows but is able to avoid being too redundant all in a row. After how ever long it takes me to meet the word count, and the accompanying Facebook breaks, I am left with my finished product!

And as a result, this ^ reaction most of the time.

Editor Kelly

As an editor, I find myself playing the roles of a good cop/bad cop routine. I normally try to give the author the benefit of the doubt; after all, they are only human. I love finding the genius parts of a work and giving credit where credit is do for a job well done. However, the “bad cop” editor side of me can be quite persnickety.

Spelling mistakes are my BIGGEST editing pet peeve. With all of the technology out now, including the classic ABC Check, obvious typos should be caught and stopped. Even a simple read-through can prevent other typing errors. When an author fails to go through these measures to make their writing as correct as possible, it drives me mad.

I just think this guy looks awesome. Sometimes I feel the need to shake some sense into what I’m reading online (Facebook group names riddled with typos and grammatical errors, Facebook statuses with the same problems.. to name a couple), or erasing everything in one of my own writing projects with a good shake of my laptop like an Etch-a-Sketch.

In the end, when the edit is complete and the assignment looks and sounds like the masterpiece it was meant to be I do celebrate. It is rewarding to know that I could help someone shape an assignment into a better version of itself.