No Crying in Copyediting?

I had a bad week recently and found myself getting behind on my main editing project (“Trade book: Must Not Slide!”). Unscheduled chores kept landing in my in box. As the week progressed and I became more and more grumpy and panicky, I started making mistakes, which only added more work and stress.

In The Subversive Copy Editor I make a big deal out of to-do lists and schedules and logs, as if I’m always pulled-together and on top of things. But with so many items to shuffle and monitor, a list seemed like just one more thing demanding attention. Nothing helped. I wanted . . . what? A drink. A good cry. My mom.

What’s the answer, when it comes to dealing with work stress? Once I was back on track, I thought of several things I could have done differently during that week.

• I should have smacked myself and insisted that I make and follow a list. I’m convinced there’s no better therapy for confusion and panic.* When you have a list to direct the order of priority, a hefty chunk of brain is freed from worrying about what’s not getting done at the moment.
• I should have tidied my desk. At least one of the mistakes I made that week happened because a piece of paper with a Rush tag on it wiggled its way under the mess. Making a separate stack for each project and keeping the tray clear would have been calming.
• I shouldn’t have freaked out and kvetched to everyone who passed my door. True, it stopped folks from dropping by to chat. But it wasn’t very professional, and it only wasted time.
• I could have delegated more.
• I could have thought more clearly about what would happen if the work didn’t get done. My boss has pushed me to do this more than once. (She’s the mother of triplets; I suspect this is a maternal ploy.) When I go crying to her, she says, “What’s the worst that will happen from being late?” And when you think about it, the worst usually boils down to the annoyance of an author or acquiring editor that will last no more than a year or two, depending on the length of the delay. So I take comfort in that.

In the case of my bad week, I ended up coming in on the weekend and clearing my desk of peripheral tasks so I could get back to my reading on Monday. It felt good to be unburdened—but at the same time, I was kicking myself for buckling under the strain.

Maybe next time I’ll do better.

_____

*Penciled lists are good, but computer-typed lists are magical. I love the way you can automatically number the items and move them around at will. (In MS Word, you can use Shift+Alt+Arrow** to move the items up and down—it’s so easy and satisfying. Can you hear how happy I am, just talking about it?)

**If you should accidentally use Ctrl+Alt+Arrow, on some computers your screen will momentarily go black and then your screen image will return—upside down. It’s so terrifying, I wanted to warn you. (SCE tip: it’s actually pretty funny when it happens to someone else.)

Image: Sisyphus, by Beth Scupham, courtesy of Flickr.

Comments

[Stacey C. Tobin, PhD, ELS]

Nice to know that other editors get themselves tied into knots - I don't know what I would do without my lists. And cleaning up the workspace is definitely therapeutic. Love your book and your blog!

Stacey

[Karen]

You forgot to mention one of the best things about to-do lists: adding something to it that you've already done just for the satisfaction of having something to cross off.

[JD]

Thanks for keeping it real. Often the worst pressure is that black hole we create for ourselves.

[Sara]

So timely. Had a week like this too: a very interesting ms, but very info-dense, lots of elements, from a new client with lots of rules and tests and a tight time line whom I would like to impress. Annoying tech troubles (notebook battery blew up -- really; "connectivity" off and on; keyboard troubles -- letters and spacebar sticking -- probably due to the excessive humidity and heat, a/c in office notwithstanding; weather headache (five days -- thanks, Hurricane Earl). Freelance, so missed the kvetching (taking the op now :^), but exercised my brains out and did the desktop sweep in desperate bid for some sense of control. Finally, broke the prone-to-crash file into smaller parts so the whole project seemed more digestible, and contacted the people I really, really felt like dodging, so as to somewhat preserve the professional veneer.
The end result will be fine -- maybe better than fine -- but it was a bad patch. Love this blog.

[Toma]

What I decided was that I need to quit reading blogs and just get back to work :)

[Elizabeth]

I'm 29, and I'm both comforted and dismayed that apparently the "wanting my mom" when I'm in a crisis will never go away.

Love the "no crying in copyediting" advice, though. I edit on the side of a full-time job, and that's very helpful advice when I get overwhelmed.

[Carol Saller]

Elizabeth, as a mom of twenty-somethings myself, I hope they never stop thinking of me when they're in a crisis!

Cheers,
Carol

[independentclause]

Love the footnotes! This has happened to me twice. The first time I burst out laughing in a very quiet room full of copyeditors. It took me a good 15 minutes to figure out what I pressed by mistake so I could get my text back where I wanted it...right side up.

[Kyriosity.wordpress.com]

I recently had to go the "What's the worst that can happen?" route when I got sick. The eventual diagnosis was hypothyroidism, and there was about a month when I couldn't edit at all...I could barely even read. Happily, I was also too fatigued to panic, so that made it easier to tell folks, "Sorry. Your deadline is toast," and go take another nap.