I'm not always good at coping with being edited and yet I'm always happy to edit other people's writing. Perhaps this is because I spent a long time as a high school teacher, in which job I was much more often the editor and rarely edited.
One of my clearest memories of positive mentoring around coping with being edited came when I was employed as a curriculum writer with the Research and Development branch of the Victorian Education Department. I was about 38 years old, with academic writing skills and lots of classroom experience and enjoyed writing. But in many respects I had to learn to write all over again...
I was clearly not reacting well to constant editing and requests for revision, however fortunately had a manager who was, on reflection, very perceptive and keen to guide me. I remember him sitting down with me and leading me to the point where he could stress to me ...'it's like having your nails pulled back' (ie. torture!) and that I would need to become used to this! I took this on board, and when I would begin to feel the emotional pain of having my writing critiqued, I would then, and still do, think of someone pulling back my nails.
A skilled exponent of the 10 to 20 line referenced paragraph from my university days, I was not the only one working on the curriculum writing project who was having problems. Teachers from various 'subject' areas had been recruited to write accessible curriculum documents for busy educators. We were the dissemination troops for a large research and development project. I suspect it was my manager who, in his wisdom, arranged for us to be trained and mentored by a wonderful man who had worked in newspapers and then specialised in instructional design and accessible learning. He taught us about the three line paragraph, the use of shorter sentences, the linking of images to our work, and much, much more. This was the beginning of a new journey in writing and 'came in handy' when in the work force.... and even now.... (This paragraph is getting too long....)
I've just done a google search and found a wonderful article ....
McPhail, Theresa (2014) 'The Revise and Resubmit Series, Part 1: Coping with Criticism' Vitae
https://chroniclevitae.com/news/830-the-revise-and-resubmit-series-part-1-coping-with-criticism (Accessed 10 May 2015)
Think I'll print it off!
One of my clearest memories of positive mentoring around coping with being edited came when I was employed as a curriculum writer with the Research and Development branch of the Victorian Education Department. I was about 38 years old, with academic writing skills and lots of classroom experience and enjoyed writing. But in many respects I had to learn to write all over again...
I was clearly not reacting well to constant editing and requests for revision, however fortunately had a manager who was, on reflection, very perceptive and keen to guide me. I remember him sitting down with me and leading me to the point where he could stress to me ...'it's like having your nails pulled back' (ie. torture!) and that I would need to become used to this! I took this on board, and when I would begin to feel the emotional pain of having my writing critiqued, I would then, and still do, think of someone pulling back my nails.
A skilled exponent of the 10 to 20 line referenced paragraph from my university days, I was not the only one working on the curriculum writing project who was having problems. Teachers from various 'subject' areas had been recruited to write accessible curriculum documents for busy educators. We were the dissemination troops for a large research and development project. I suspect it was my manager who, in his wisdom, arranged for us to be trained and mentored by a wonderful man who had worked in newspapers and then specialised in instructional design and accessible learning. He taught us about the three line paragraph, the use of shorter sentences, the linking of images to our work, and much, much more. This was the beginning of a new journey in writing and 'came in handy' when in the work force.... and even now.... (This paragraph is getting too long....)
I've just done a google search and found a wonderful article ....
McPhail, Theresa (2014) 'The Revise and Resubmit Series, Part 1: Coping with Criticism' Vitae
https://chroniclevitae.com/news/830-the-revise-and-resubmit-series-part-1-coping-with-criticism (Accessed 10 May 2015)
Think I'll print it off!
