Perfectionism or Embarrassment

This week I had a feature-length film review appear in Willamette Week for the first time in awhile, for a nice documentary called My Architect. I was kind of jazzed to pick up the paper yesterday, but then when I found the review I was horrified to see that I used the word "breathtaking" twice in the introductory paragraph. Now I can't even look at the article without wanting to wretch. Without meaning to sound pretentious, I really take writing seriously and feel like each time I write a good piece, it's like sinking a sweet jump shot. But then there are those that just clank off the rim or maybe even feel like an air ball. Does a mistake like using the same adjective twice in one paragraph really invalidate the whole review? Probably not. But it's unfortunately something that'll be haunting me for awhile.

Comments

[Valarie]

That's what editors are supposed to be for.

[Sara]

Well said, Valarie. I stayed up until 12:30 reading proofs at the paper last night and edited a thousand repeated words within the same paragraphs. Not your fault, but frustrating nonetheless. Fortunately, people that aren't journalism nerds like us wouldn't think twice about it.

[Christa]

That's true, if no one had said anything I never would have noticed.

[suonerie polifoniche]

Sal