it's been a while...

I know it has been a little while since I posted last, but I feel as if I’ve done so much!

First, I’ve started making contacts. One of the colleges I’m looking at is Oklahoma Christian University. I want to get a degree in English, but I just kind of figured that most English departments were pretty standard. I didn’t really know if one college’s department stood out from another’s… I mean, what could really be different. Don’t they all read the same material?

I emailed John deSteiguer, the Senior Vice President for Advancement at OC. He’s a good friend of my family’s and has been a big influence in my recruitment to OC.

From previous knowledge, I knew that he and his wife both attended law school. Together they graduated in the top two places in their class, but they won’t ever say who did better. One of the things that I have been wondering about is, once I get a law degree and decide to practice for a few years, how easy is it to transition out of practicing? Also, is it even practical to go to law school? Will it help at all?

Well, Mr. deSteiguer emailed me back that night with some great answers! He said that law school will definitely help once I start to get into the publishing business. He said to take as many writing classes as I can, as well as some communications classes.

He also referred me to Dr. Cami Agan, the chair of OC’s Department of Language and Literature. She sent me an email about all of the opportunities within OC’s English department. She described the accomplishments of the students’ literary journal, Soundings, and their essays. Dr. Agan did a great job showing how college’s English departments differ from each other.

These are the colleges that I have applied to: OC, Harding University, David Lipscomb University, Union University, University of Tulsa, Oklahoma State University, and Oklahoma City University. Ideally, I see myself at a Church of Christ university, which narrows my list down to OC, Harding and Lipscomb. In Dr. Agan’s email, she said that OC sent 14 students to a national conference in Pittsburgh last year – Harding and Lipscomb sent none.

So, once again, OC seems like a major contender in my college decision. My uncle graduate with an English degree, went on to law school, and now runs a law firm with the County Commissioner. Obviously, he’s done very well with an OC English degree… (sometimes I wonder why I even try looking at other colleges…)

So this is pretty much what I’ve been doing for the past two weeks… Also, I set up a new page on this blog where you can go to see a brief synopsis of the books that I’ve been reading. Enjoy!

week number two

Hello there!

So, I'm still reading Editors on Editing, and I just thought I'd share one more obvious tidbit that I learned while reading this week.

I want to be a copy editor.

It seems to me that, for lack of a better term, "regular" editors do a lot of creative work. Some would say that they are a mix between an author and a businessman. They are an author in that frequently, they come up with the ideas for a book; they are a businessman in that they arrange meetings between the author and their agents.

I am not a super creative person. I can hold my own when given time to think, but it is hard for me to think of new ideas. I would do better if someone gave me a topic, and I tell a fact about it. I'm good at that.

A copy editor deals more with the grammar and analytical side of the manuscript. If the author accidentally spells a character's name one way in one chapter and then a different way in another, it would be the copy editor's job to catch it and alert the author. I would be fantastic doing that, I can tell you that right now.

Well, that's enough for now. Byebye!