Midterm Self-Assessment

It's about half way through my final semester here at WVU and I have a few things to note. Recently, my work at the WVU Press has been going smoothly. I've edited a lot of the web content and am making progress as days go by. I've noticed that getting used to editing and working at the Press has been a process. I first had to get used to my surroundings, which didn't take long because the office is a very open place. I then had to get comfortable with the work I was starting to do. This took a little longer because I had never done anything like this before. I think writing in this blog about the struggles I had initially helped me recognize where I need to focus at work. Most of the time after I would write one of these entries I would re-read it to make sure it made sense and I would retain the comments I made and apply them to work. I think writing down my struggles has helped me overcome them, so that part of my writing and progress is coming along swimingly.

I've been trying to address one issue lately that deals with my professional life and writing. My mother recently got ahold of my resume and decided to alter it a little. And by a little I mean a lot. It looks very professional now, but she added information that doesn't need to be there and some that isn't even true. This was a nice gesture and all, but I have to remedy this before I apply to any other jobs. The thing I've been having an issue with is which information to keep and which to toss. Her draft is about five pages long and I know not all of it needs to be there. My editorial eye is not used to working with so much content in one document all at once, so this will be a different challenge, seeing as I'm currently used to there not being enough to work with. I think this will not only be a good move in terms of my resume, but also in terms of the different ways to look at a document that needs to be edited.