Thanks to my clients, I have polished my proofeading skills until they blind all who behold them. (Okay, not really, but I have brushed up on ’em a LOT.)

Thanks to my clients, I have reviewed grammar topics from passive voice to agreement (verbs with nouns, you know, that thing) to the omnipresent dangling/misplaced modifier.

Thanks to my clients, I have either reviewed or learned afresh the way to handle foreign words and phrases in print (according to CMoS, of course), the usage nuances of countless words and phrases, and the etymology and dates of first use of countless more. (Did you know that “tomboy” first appeared “before 1553” applied to, of course, boys — and was first applied to an immodest woman in 1579? By 1592 it had acquired the meaning we know today: “a girl who behaves like a spirited, boisterous boy” [Chambers].)

Thanks to my clients, I am learning about “show, don’t tell.” I can see where they’re telling, and I can help them learn to show. I think this is verging on developmental editing territory, perhaps. I have NEVER been such an editor, preferring to work at the paragraph/sentence levels. However, learning has a way of broadening one’s horizons.

Thanks to my clients, I am constantly honing my editing skills. I am improving, every day.

I will never know everything there is to know about my work, but thanks to my clients, I will know more tomorrow than I do today.