We can beat them, just for one day; We can be Heroes, just for one day

No. 1 gets Testy.

I'm so glad we finally met. Maybe I can get his comments made into a poster. And autographed.

You know, I'm way tired of sensitive newspaper reporters whose badly written copy we make publishable. I've been hearing their whining for decades and it's only getting worse.

Rarely does a copy editor screw around significantly with the work of a good writer. Often, attempts to fix unpublishable copy fail, but that's hardly the copy desk's fault.

It's always the crappy writers who complain, and their insecure editors who back them. We shouldn't be trying to justify our work. We should just be doing it, and counting on our desk chiefs to cover our backs. We don't want or need thanks and praise. We just need to be left alone to do our work.

Good Christ, this isn't literature we're committing here. Even most Pulitizer-winning stories, products of great reporting, aren't particularly well-written. Readers are not impressed with failed flourishes. They are killing us.

Feel the city breakin' and ev'rybody shakin' and we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive

I was going to post some photos from Denver, but someone took home my photo disc, even after I specifically requested that it be returned to my desk after work.

Close enough to perfect for me

Thanks, William.

He always makes me lapse into a comma

Spotted as a comment by a friend on a blog by another copy editor (and I'll soon be a regular reader of the blog):

One of the most disconcerting things about attending ACES conferences is having stunningly attractive young women run up to me … and beg me to take pictures of them with Bill Walsh.

Oh, Jim. You're so good at taking those photos.

Here's a link to the original post.

And since we've no place to go

Go here to learn about the best part of the trip to Denver.

More here, too.

Why wait any longer for the world to begin, you can have your cake and eat it, too

Bill Walsh, copy editing celebrity, spilled wine on me at last year's Word Nerd Fest. This year, we hung out a bit. He complimented my karaoke choice of Bob Dylan's ungrammatical masterpiece, "Lay Lady Lay."

Last night, I discovered that he has driven through my hometown. And now we're e-mailing about it.

Wow.

***

Photos and updates of Word Nerd Fest 2008 to come. If ever Wordnerdy empties her suitcase and downloads her photos.

Follow-up yet again

Some white people place room in their hearts for typography-inspired April Fool's jokes.

That's the sound of screeching tires

which means a sudden halt.

SWPL (see previous post) has been purchased by Target. It's gonna be one big ad. Fuck.

Not cool.

Sellout.

This almost *ALMOST* makes me want to link to the site, just so the writers can see how angry I am about this. Of course, linking means learning how to link. Or at least taking the time to use Bloggers linking tool.