After we turned in our first assignment, he made two copies of each one. Everyone in the class received one copy of their own assignment, and one copy of someone else’s. He then told us to find whatever typos we could in both pieces. To a person, we all found more typos in the assignment someone else wrote, and missed many in our own assignments. It was a lot easier, he said, to find typos when your eyes and brain are fresh – that is, when you read something for the first time. Since then, when a typo is unacceptable, I always have a fresh pair of eyes proof read my writing. I’m constantly amazed at the typos I still miss, no matter how careful I am.

The longer I practice law, the more I realize that I, too, am a professional writer. I’m just on the flip side of the coin that one conjures up when one hears the word “writer”. I’m grateful for the opportunity to read and learn about the more typical side, from the inside.

[3] Alex, if you really wanted someone to help catch mistakes pre-posting, I would think there must a retired or semi-retired copy editor who reads the Banter and could help out. I am neither of those things, but I’d gladly volunteer to do it, if we could make the timing work.

For some reason, I can’t find the mistakes until they’re posted and then they stick out there like glowing xmas ornaments.