Yes. Yes, you probably are. You persuade the courts, you charm and convince. And even still, you are a better proofreader than I - I who gets lazy when arriving at the last paragraph. Someone comes into my office with an assignment and whoosh--I've missed three errors. Simple errors, errors that shouldn't have escaped my gaze.
But they did. And like every error before it, it was a stupid error. Dumb. Easy to spot. I haven't honed my detail skills adequately yet. Details like proofreading are harder for me, someone who thinks in the big picture. I'm more of a creative type, I love to think up arguments and communicate. Sitting alone in a room without windows and a strong air conditioner, day after day, reading, writing and proofreading, those things are harder for me. They are less natural to my personality.
But I will get better at proofreading, because I have to. I will get better at it & I will proof right to the last paragraph. I will check my work four times instead of three. I will look for the stupid mistakes. At the same time, I will look for a field that compounds my strengths. I may have many years of details, details, details ahead of me and I will learn to concur my weaknesses, my detail-deficiencies. But someday, my work will speak to my strengths instead of my weaknesses.
This is a time of new beginnings, but also a time of endings. I am so excited to see things end, but only if they come with the promise of new beginnings.
