Editing Made Easy (For Me)

I had it pretty easy for this assignment. My fiance is an aspiring writer and had several papers on deck, which I assumed would fulfill the requirements more easily than poems or short stories. I'm often the first and last person to see a piece of writing after the first draft is down and before the final version is turned in. The advice in the chapter about dealing with the writer on a personal level was helpful, but when it comes down to it I've had several years of experience interacting with the writer in question. Talking about the writing process and knowing the best ways to present constructive criticism were almost effortless. I didn't have to feel out the process by trial and error or walk on eggshells when pointing out a problem.

My final editing mistake is an especially glaring one, found on the packaging for an off-brand travel pack in the cosmetics section at Target. While hair spray can be quite useful, I'm not sure whether or how much hair shray would help if your 'do starts to fall apart when you're on vacation. I'm not sure how this particular error made it past the quality control people. I suppose “h” and “p” look sort of similar. At a glance it might be easy to miss.