“Carefully checking for errors in a text before it is published or shared. It is the very last stage of the content submission process when you fix minor spelling and punctuation mistakes, typos, formatting issues and inconsistencies.”

My middle name when reading editing text on its way to publication is Hawkeye. Proofreading is not editing; it is that last eye on the prize. It can find ‘teh’ that was meant to be ‘the.’  Proofreading finds that pesky missing word: The girl went to store to buy a banana. When reading and re-reading a text, it is easy to miss the word that should come before the word store. I edit and write but prefer proofreading in many ways. It is singular work done inside your mind. There are software assistants for proofreading, and that is a good thing.  Still, finding the buried treasure of a missing period or a repeated paragraph or duplicate photo in a magazine draft is magic.