L

ast winter, I struggled with writing an 
application for a program that I desperately 
wanted to be admitted to. The most fundamental 

section of the application consisted of five personal 
short answer questions. Once I had settled on the 
ideas I wanted to express in my responses, I faced a 
whole new challenge: how to write them. I wrote 
freely and tried not to get in my own way, but faced 
a few worries when I went back to revise. This 
application was supposed to reflect me — but could it 
reflect me too much? I wanted to use a strikethrough 
and a few parenthetical asides, but would these cross 
some kind of invisible line separating acceptable from 
too personal? I struggled with deciding how much 
to allow myself as a person to come through in my 
answers. And by struggled, I mean struggled. I was 
doing homework at the same table as a few friends at 
the time, and I interrupted all of them to ask for help. 
I called my mom to talk to her about it. I may have 
sought advice via text.

As a copy editor, my job is to proofread. My job is to 

fact-check, to look closely at grammar and syntax and 
to intuitively understand how to polish articles before 
they go on to be published in our newspaper. While I’m 
not necessarily editing for voice, editors still want to 
make sure that the tone of the Daily pieces follow the 
professional standard we strive to uphold. In this role, 
my waffling and questioning disappears. I trust myself 
to read the work of others and suggest a rewrite for 
clarity or a change in punctuation. I love this position. 
I am at my most confident in the writing process when 
I’m reading work with a critical eye.

Obviously, reading the work of others and revising 

your own work are two completely different situations. 
My hesitancy in my application is only one instance 
of many in which I struggled with how to write. I 
have hit this obstacle in many of my other writings, 
some academic, some personal. It’s not that I’m 
uncomfortable with my ability to write. The problem 
is rooted in indecisiveness, in an inability to commit 
to my voice and move forward with the text, whether 
that be an application, an email or a tweet.

For many writers, writing is deeply personal. It’s 

almost impossible to distance yourself enough from 
your own work to revise it fairly. I strongly believe 
that it is always valuable to have another person (or a 
few people) review your work. However, questioning 
my own voice was getting in the way of my writing. 
It was drawing me away from how I wanted to write 
and toward this undefined notion of how I thought 
I should write. Even as I asked for advice about the 
strikethrough and parenthetical phrases, I knew that 
I wasn’t really unsure of these devices. I liked them 
and wanted to use them. Frankly, I thought they were 
funny, and laughing at my own jokes is a pretty key 
part of my personality. I wasn’t looking for deciding 
votes from the people I asked — I was looking for 
permission to be myself in my writing.

After thinking about how much time I spent asking 

for someone to give me the go-ahead to write the way 
I was comfortable writing, I realized that something 
had to change. While I wasn’t going to be able to get 
the distance in my own writing and revising that I 
have when I’m editing articles for the Daily, I had to 
try and let myself be both a writer and an editor. I had 
to trust my writing skills and my voice. I had to trust 
my experience reading with a critical eye and use it for 
my own work. The goal was never to be able to write 
a perfect piece of work on my own, but to manage to 
free myself from the strange limbo I encountered each 
time I couldn’t decide if I was crossing a line into using 
my individual voice too much.

I want to turn in papers that adhere to high academic 

standards, of course. But I also want to turn in papers 
that I’m happy with personally. I’m not at the place yet 
where I’ve stopped asking for approval entirely. I still 
text my mom asking for help with emails. I might not 
ever be able to stop questioning completely, but I’m 
doing better. I don’t have any authority on this matter 
beyond my own personal experience. With that in 
mind, if there’s something I’m trying to remind myself 
of on a regular basis because of the demands of being 
an English major, it’s this: don’t be afraid to write 
yourself into your paper.

3B
Wednesday, November 23, 2016 / The Statement 

Copy That: The Strikethrough

B Y D A N I E L L E C O L B U R N

“A fake story claiming Pope Francis — actually 
a refugee advocate — endorsed Mr. Trump was 
shared almost a million times, likely visible to tens 
of millions... It’s correction was barely heard. Of 
course Facebook had a significant influenece in 
this last election’s outcome.”

—ZEYNEP TUFEKCI, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina 
who specializes in the social impact of technology, on the role of fake news in 
the recent presidential election.

on the record: fake news

“I think Trump is in the White House because 
of me. His followers don’t fact-check anything — 
they’ll post everything, believe anything.” 

— PAUL HORNER, a fake news writer, on his influence in the election.

“While the percentage of misinformation is 
relatively small, we have much ahead on our 
roadmap.... But I want you to know that we have 
always taken this seriously, we understand how 
important the issue is for our community and we 
are committed to getting this right.”

—MARK ZUCKERBERG, Facebook CEO, in a Facebook post Saturday, 
November 19.

ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily

THOUGHT BUBBLE: MOTIVATION

“I am motivated by my mom. Although she 

has passed, I still feel her pushing me to reach 

new goals and become the best version of 

myself. Every day, I wake up wanting to make 

her proud. Since I don’t have the opportunity 

to talk to my mom, I have to believe that she 

is a part of the opportunities and blessings 

that happen to me; that this is her way of 

communicating with me. I don’t want to take 

one of these for granted. This is the constant 

force that drives me to work towards my future. 

Whatever that future may be, I know my mom 

was watching over me and I will continue work 

to make her proud.”

– LSA junior Jane Smith

COVER: PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SHANE ACHENBACH

ORIGINAL PHOTO BY VIRGINIA LOZANO

