Editing myself

When one thinks of Professional Writing and Editing, and what the actual acts of professional forms of writing and editing entail, certain types of media come to mind, such as manuals or guides, communication documents, or even simple inter-office memos. But as I have found this week during my internship, writing notes in meetings can be counted as writing as well, as informal as it may be.

While I have had several one-on-one meetings as I have been here at UPMC, I had my first group meeting of the summer yesterday. I was asked to come to this meeting simply to catch-up with what had been happening since I was gone at school. So, because I was mostly an observer for this meeting, I was given a lot of room to be able to focus on my note-taking abilities.

As different people of the group discussed their areas and gave their opinions, me occasionally giving my own, I structured the meeting notes rather soundly, making sure that each good point that was made had found a spot amongst my notes, as well as an indication of who said what. After the meeting, I was able to go back and correct typos that I hadn’t had time to fix during the meeting, and I was also able to look over the notes I had taken in order to recap and reabsorb what was said during the meeting.

This realization, I think, will help me greatly later on down the line in other group meetings. I may be able to find different, more effective ways of taking notes as the internship goes along, but dipping my toes into this pond will surely help with my note-taking as I continue my professional path. I think, maybe more so than the act of taking notes itself, this is also giving me excellent practice in being able to edit—not only coworker’s work—but also my own. I often find it hard to make myself look at something I’ve written in an objective manner, and edit it as I would anyone else’s work. Whereas while I’m editing my own notes, I know it is easier for me to take a step back and say “ok, does what I’ve written here actually make sense?” Because, while I was in the room at the time of the meeting, being able to listen and write at the same time is somewhat of a hard task for me. I know that this practice will help me to be able to do that more freely in my own writing, not just note-taking, and this is an integral part of being able to be a professional writer and/or editor.