Crash Course in Copy Editing

Yes, this will help you become a better writer. What I am getting from your post is that you don't want to be a copy editor, but this internship is all about copy editing. Welcome to the real world of sports journalism my friend. I hate to inform you of this, but more than likely when you leave college for a full-time gig somewhere, you will have 9.5 out of 10 offers being mainly desk work to start off. If you are lucky enough to land a writing gig out of college it will likely be at a very crappy paper. I'm not saying this is you, but I know for a fact that kids getting out of college nowadays expect to have a cushy job handed to them. They don't seem to realize how things truly work in this business. You get your foot in the door on the desk and work your way up. So all I can say is learn as much about the industry as you can right now - most importantly copy editing and web-based stuff - as these will likely be your best chances of getting a decent gig out of school.

Best of luck.

 

Let's not forget that the original poster might be one of those humble interns that is actually a stud writer/copy editor. Perhaps he/she is looking for more info on what is actually required of a copy editor, and what role he/she can expect to take on.

Just seems the majority of the posts in the thread are aimed at someone that's completely new to this, which might not be the case.

 

Thank you, Bull.

For the record, I'm not opposed to this at all. As I said, they are short a desk guy, so I am entering this with the assumption they are expecting me to step in and take on a full workload. They know I have no experience as a copy editor, and I'm sure they are preparing to roll with the punches as I learn. Right now, I plan to spend the next two weeks preparing for this role the best I can, so I can hopefully make a good, if not pleasantly surprising, debut.

Thanks to all, so far.

 

Bullwinkle,

I was working off the assumption he hadn't done it before since, you know, he said he'd never done it before.

 

I hope so.

But if you're one of the 23,549,438 writers who use "dilemma" as a synonym for "problem", you're not always right.

 

Ironically, I think that you're right.

 

Leave my drug dilemma out of this.

 

Stop it.

 

Come on! The "that" was dying to be used.

 

If I fell and broke my ass, and my brother did the same thing one year to the day later, it would be a coincidence. Not fucking irony. Unless it's in a quote, or if a firehouse burns down, irony is never appropriate in a story because it's always wrong.
And that's the end of that discussion.