Letter to the Author(s), Because

Dear Literotica authors that I have had the honour of proofreading,

First, I offer my apologies for the lame title, but it is the only way I could think to have my letters -- sorry, essays -- in chronological order on my Submissions page.

And, secondly, yes, I did write 'proofreading' instead of editing, as that is really more of what I do. As I write in my blurb to authors perusing the Volunteer Editors section:

"My aim is not to change the author's voice, style, or story; just fix some spelling, grammar, and punctuation; make the phrasing flow easier, so that your story gets told and received better."

But this letter, or better, this (humble) essay, is directed specifically to the authors who used my services in the year 2022. Apparently, there is a contest for 'Most Helpful Editor in 2022.' I wasn't even aware of it until an author for whom I have proofread told me they'd nominated me, and now, just like that, I am obsessed with it.

I do not have the courage to ask those authors directly, but I have no shame in writing this letter, or review, or essay to raise visibility and hint at what I desire. Hopefully some of them will read this essay (but, really a solicitation) -- and hopefully, by April 30th, be stirred to nominate 'someone,' as apparently, that is the deadline for nominations.

Seeing the lack of readership of my last submission, I am not holding my breath, but I do note that it was at least published on the site, despite being a blatant advertisement for my 'editing' (proofreading) services. I'm therefore hopeful that this plea (advertisement) will be as well.

If the Literotica Editors -- the big kahunas -- read this, here is an additional message geared towards them: I hope that in the future, they will divide the Volunteer Editors section into two distinct types: editing and proofreading. If they feel it necessary to keep the 'editor' tag, then they could, instead, distinguish between these two types: developmental/structural/content editing and copy editing. For those not familiar with the terms, please, look them up.

Now that my naive request is out of the way, I'll get down from soapbox. And if you allow me, I'll try to summarize the differences. The former is what everybody thinks an editor is (aside from 'someone with a huge ego' and 'someone who sits at a big desk,') and the copy editor is more of a proofreader, who limits his or her meddlings to spelling, punctuation, and phrasing (and who also has the larger ego, but is way more duplicitous, and would be one to write a letter to the editor just to get their name (albeit pen name) published.)

For those unfamiliar with the 'letter to the editor' concept, there was once a form of mass communication called 'newspapers' wherein, on a daily basis, current news (well, it turns out the news was actually a day old because of the nature of physically applying ink to paper) was mass-printed and then distributed to the local area via school kids and bicycles. Within these sheets of paper, there would often be a section where readers in the general public could write to the newspaper to communicate their opinions (usually complaints) about one thing or another. It was very much like the comments section of any online article one sees today on the internet; except that one had to leave their real name and city of residence, and the content of their 'letter' was required to refer to an article or such that had been published some five to ten days previous, as the 'letter' would have to be mailed through the postal system (not to be confused with being sent electronically.) But, I digress.

Well, I see that even with the history lesson there, I am still short of the '750-word minimum' that Literotica demands of their submissions (do they really want quantity over quality?) Thus, I will have to resort to expounding upon a current pet peeve in my proofreading: 'lay' versus 'lie.'

"You lie down, but you lay something down. Lie does not require a direct object. Lay requires a direct object. The same rule applies to laying and lying. The past tense of lay is laid, but be careful with the past tense of lie -- there are two options: lay (past), and lain (past participle)."

The above was stolen from Grammarly, as a lot of authors tend to think that Grammarly is the bible, but I am a Buddhist, and do not use the 'bible.'

And with that, I have written seven-hundred-seventy-plus words (I give authors a hard time about spelling out numbers; practice what you preach,) so here, I shall end my third attempt at being published, my second at advertising my wares, and my first at asking for something in return.

Best regards,

Kenji Sato (kenjisato -- for those authors wishing to give credit in their introduction)

Proofreader, Practising copy editor, Aspiring editor (well, maybe not so much now), Reluctant author (well, maybe not so much now)

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