Why is eating out so complicated?

The reading this week made me smile because the biggest thing that I took away is that we need to remember the people we are working with are humans. It is unnecessary to be mean or harsh. Jumping to conclusions about writing can be irresponsible and you might miss out on something valuable because you didn’t take the time to reach out and really understand what was going on.

I liked that the chapter talked about talking with the writer to get an understanding of where they were coming from. You might be sitting on a gold mine of a written product but if all you can see is the mistakes or a style you don’t like, you might miss it. The chapter discussed how editors get carried away and rewrite articles completely bypassing what the original intent was. Different people have different interests and as an editor it’s important to recognize that some styles of writing might not appeal to you but it may to your readers. If I ever find my self in another situation where I am editing someone’s writing, before I start changing things, I hope I will talk to them to ask where they were coming from, the emotion or feeling they want to emit and where they want the writing to go. Understanding these things can give you a better direction to keep the final product more authentic to the original idea.

Editing mistake of the week:

When I was looking at this menu, I had troubles trying to even understand what was happening in item #33.

Choice of protein stir fired with seasonal mixed vegetables and black pepper in house special sauce.

For starters, I am assuming it is stir-fried protein not stir fired. But the bigger issue I had was when it gets to the last line. I read it differently every time I try. Are they saying this is an “in house” special black pepper flavored sauce, or is it the restaurant’s house sauce that black pepper has been added to for this dish?