People get paid for this

I prefer to use 'track changes'

I know you won't believe me when I say this, based on my rampant spelling/grammar/writing errors in my posts, but I'm actually currently getting paid to do a freelance proofreading job.

And it's kind of fun!

The fun comes, I suspect, from me actually getting to correct someone else's work rather than having them correct mine.  Finding mistakes, fixing them, then passing those findings along is far more satisfying than having to fix problems someone else found in my work.

The first time I sent a document I'd written for a quality control check, and got the results back, I get really super angry with the findings, as I though that I was practically perfect in every way and thus my document would be too.  Those red marks on MY document were a personal affront!  An outrage!

In the years and hundreds of documents since, I've become less attached to the things I write (at least for work), but still bristle at my own lack of skill and follow-through when a reviewer finds something that's blatantly wrong, or misspelled, or completely out of whack with our style guides.   Of course I know there's no such thing as a perfect document, ever, but it would be lovely to, every once in a while, get something back from the QC check with a note attached saying 'wow - this was super clean!  We only had 50 bajillion findings instead of the usual 500 bajillion!' (because you know they're going to find something, anything).

So, getting to be the one doing the correcting is absolutely grand.  And I'm getting paid to do it.  Not a lot, but that's OK.  Someone is giving me money to do something that I'm enjoying.  There's nothing not to like about that, is there?

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While this proofing thing is fun I'd have to say that I'm pretty close to a dream job  in my current position.  I enjoy what I do, it pays well, and I can have a very flexible work schedule.  All in all, it's not a bad place to find myself, career-wise.  This proofreader thing though...could be a good back-pocket career for when I run out of 'care' for the writing thing.  I can see me being very happy in a job that is all about finding mistakes other people make.  And yes, that does sound kind of twisted, I'll admit. 

What's your dream job (let's be realistic and assume it's something normal and achievable, not something like 'supermodel scientist' or 'spaceship pilot'), and are you doing it now?  Do tell us about it, won't you?

Tiff out.