Day 12 - Editing

I struggle with how to work with Ben in editing his work. The quandary is to produce quality without losing his work in the process. I recognize that there is a difference between the type of work I would like to see and the type of work that is reasonable to expect from someone his age.

I try to be clear in outlining components that should be in work and the things I will be looking for when reviewing his work product. His final work often lacks a visual sense and frequently excludes information I suggested he include. He has been documenting some science work lately and I have been trying to get him to write in the spare and direct way that makes a clear point. He is still struggling with that style of writing. Science writing is nice because it is easy to establish a standard and the repeat it for reinforcement. We are working on creating templates and using past work product as an example for future work.

I am always careful that our ‘process’ does not rob him of the satisfaction he gets from creating the work product. I hope I am being successful at that.