I started proofreading to subsidize my reporting habit and found it, in its own way, oddly addictive. Maybe it's something about being right where someone else was wrong. (We won't talk about the dark little psychological need this feeds. All you need to know is it makes me good at my job.)

When I work, I look at the whole page, spotting misspelled headlines as well as the grammar glitches. I have a thorough knowledge of Associated Press style and can quickly learn your publication's in-house standards.

Two of my favorite saves:

Preventing Jesus from delivering "the Sermon on the Mound." (Somehow, I doubt Christ was a fan of the National League.)

Correcting a brief that referred to Chicagoland's "Cook Country Board of Commissioners," named John Stroger as board president, though a stroke had forced the man out of office a year earlier, and used the word "gaff" instead of "gaffe," suggesting the actual board president had gutted a fish in front of reporters.

For information on rates, please e-mail me at clairebushey@yahoo.com.