I just finished a big translation project. It was an awesome job. Good pay, flexible deadlines. Also, I wasn’t working through an agency. I was working with a group of colleagues I really like and respect. We were organized, kept track of who was doing what, and then edited each others’ work. It doesn’t get any better than that.
I got one of my translations back, though, and was mortified. I apparently can’t capitalize for shit. I was all over the place, and my colleague/editor sent me a very kind e-mail in which she quoted the Chicago Manual of Style extensively. I sent back an e-mail in which I joked about my Excessive Capitalization Syndrome.
It wasn’t such a huge deal, I suppose, but I was really annoyed with myself for being sloppy. I’d even looked it up online, where I got conflicting information, so I went with my gut. Ha.
Whenever I doubt myself, I try to remind myself that I’m just demanding a lot of myself. I want to turn in good work, which is a good thing. But obviously, I need a style manual. It’s kind of appalling, given my reference library, that I don’t own one. I suppose you can’t go wrong with the Chicago Manual of Style? Definitely something I need to look into when I get back.
Oh, and when I doubt myself, I start to have issues with hyphens and apostrophes, too. And I tend to overuse commas. Yeah, I need a style manual, pronto. I think I need to read it cover to cover. Or maybe I mean cover-to-cover. See?
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