Readin', writin' and bitin' off hedz

[cavedwellers]

After a grand 18-month hiatus from anything even remotely educational, I laid down $150 (yeah, big spending, I know) with the CCAE in the hopes of learning how to actually do my job

Comments

[mdm_sosostris]

I feels your pain. It's hard being the only one who paid attention in English class the first time around, non? And I'm sorry, but nonacademics in an academic setting are the definition of tedium.

Your class is a suck. Any chance you could bail and find someone competent to teach you? *I* can track changes in Word, you know. I even know where to find the menu. I'll take your $150.

[cavedwellers]

Well, as much as I would love to ditch my Great Grey Lady of Copyediting, I feel like I need to hang onto this. See, the real heartbreak here is: None of the things mentioned above are things I need to learn -- I, too, possess the knowledge of Track Changes. What I _need_ to know -- and the reason that I took the damn class in the first place -- is how to prepare a proper style sheet. And that seems like a topic she can't possibly fuck up ... right? *sigh*

[mdm_sosostris]

Yeah, I don't know that either. Sorry. What's a style sheet?

[cavedwellers]

Let me see if I can describe it, seeing as I don't really have the best grasp on the whole thing myself: It's sort of a stylistic manifesto that applies strictly to the material being copyedited -- style sheets can vary wildly from project to project, and often diverge from Chicago, the AP, etc. I sort of have a running laundry list of jargon and usage specific to the Dig ("nutsack," "badass," "fuckin’ A"), but it's not quite a style sheet.

When I first mentioned "style sheet" to Dave, he thought I meant I was taking the class to learn CSS -- and boy, I'm pretty fucking lucky I'm not, eh?

[mdm_sosostris]

Oh, I get it. Like MLA for underground indie newspapers. Right. That makes sense. You wouldn't want someone slipping a hyphenated nut-sack into your copy.

Heh.