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 Born to Write
 A Blog by Author Amy Hill Hearth
 
 
 

The Non-Stop Editor

This will sound strange to the non-writers out there, but I am constantly editing the written word in my mind, everywhere I go. Menus, signs, instructions - nothing escapes me. Misspellings don't bother me too much, and I'm not a perfectionist about grammar. What bothers me is when the language is not clear. Especially galling is when medical information can be interpreted in more than one way. For example, a few years ago my husband was given an information sheet following a medical procedure. This was a hand-out from the medical staff. It was, to say the least, confusingly written. When I called for a clarification, I was treated with disdain. "Just read the sheet," I was told. I ended up insisting on talking to the doctor, and it's a good thing. Neither I nor my husband had interpreted it as the doctor had intended. At least in this case, the doctor corrected the information sheet. The next time my husband went to the doctor's office, the wording had been changed.