Saturday, November 28, 2015

November: day 28

This evening

I didn't feel like leaving the house today to go to the two Interrobang events I had tickets for, but I'm pleased I did. Cheryl Strayed, the one I was looking forward to most, was great: she was warm and funny and wise, as expected, and the banter between her and facilitator Meghan Daum was entertaining.  

But I think I enjoyed the second event with The New Yorker copy editor Mary Norris - aka the Comma Queen - even more. She was delightful, and not just because she looked and sounded like a cross between Marilla from Anne of Green Gables and the granny from Loony Tunes.  

She talked about the joy of finding errors in copy and I nearly jumped up and yelled, "Yes! Yes!", but, being an introvert, I merely nodded my head in agreement. Anybody who follows me on Twitter will know picking up mistakes on The Age website is one of my favourite hobbies*. I think I'll have to buy her book, Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, which has been described as a 'refoir' - a cross between a reference book and a memoir. 

A Twitter friend, Jess, also attended the Cheryl Strayed event, which was at the Athenaeum Theatre - a sizeable venue.  We bought our tickets separately, but ended up sitting in the same row about five seats apart!  

* Now I feel pressured to vigorously proofread this post, but I'm not going to because I'm too tired to bother or care too much if it isn't perfect**.

** I feel as if I should apologise for mentioning how tired I am so often. It's boring. Sorry.  

No comments: