Friday, December 31, 2010

Where was his finger?

I once read a story that said that someone "went to work with a jammed finger on his hand."

Yes, he had a jammed finger on his hand. Where else would it be? On his head? If he'd said "left hand," that would have been fine. More information and welcome. But he didn't.

Similarly, I read a novel recently in which the writer wrote "He looked back and waved his hand." Again, what else would he have waved? His left ear?

The first guy had a jammed finger; the second guy waved. End of story.


Contact: I can be reached at tgilli52@gmail.com or nc3022@yahoo.com. Also, my Twitter handle is EDITORatWORK.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)

More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

The end (and a new start)

MY NEWSPAPER EDITING career pretty much ended this month, barring a miracle. Media General consolidated its copy desks among the Winston-Salem (NC) Journal, the Tampa Tribune and the Richmond-Times Dispatch, and the Journal no longer has a copy desk. All of the work will be done in Tampa and Richmond.

My wife lost her job as a full-time news copy editor, and my stint as a part-time editor in sports is over.

But I'll remain an editor and writer. In the last two years, I've edited several novels and more than 30 non-fiction books, including inspirational novels and non-fiction, close to two dozen books written in British English, an e-book on nail care and fashion, a doctoral dissertation and more.

I'm looking forward to doing more types of editing and writing. Still, I'm saddened. I was a newspaper writer and editor for more than 31 years. It went away too quickly.

P.S.: The Journal will hire my wife back in early 2015. So at least her newspaper career isn't over.


Contact: I can be reached at tgilli52@gmail.com or nc3022@yahoo.com. Also, my Twitter handle is EDITORatWORK.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)

More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie