I have missed posting comics twice in the last month, the first because I was simply on vacation, and the second because of current events. I just didn’t feel like being funny while the world seemed to be on fire.
The year has kicked off to a rather tumultuous start, and I’ve basically written off the month when it comes to an official “new start” kind of thing. My new Passion Planner didn’t arrive until a week into the year, which really threw me off in planning my year in December, my focus is all over the place, and I’ve got my kids slowly going back to in-person school (one this week, one two weeks from now).
So yeah, I’m counting January 2021 as being part of 2020. Please calm down, February.
This week’s comic is inspired by something I’ll see quite often in editor groups, where someone will ask a very specific question, setting up the parameters and context for what they need, and someone will come along, totally not read it, and then just answer whatever bit they did see.
If you’re not aware of what FOMO means, it’s Fear of Missing Out, and boy, do editors have this. So many times I’ll go to a thread and see most of the answers being woefully unhelpful, ignoring details, and just flat out being irrelevant.
It’s maddening.
If you’re feeling FOMO while reading a thread, read it again and make sure your answer is relevant, and if your answer isn’t: YOU DON’T NEED TO REPLY. If someone asks about something in British English, don’t tell them what the answer is in American English. If someone asks about something you have absolutely no experience in, you don’t have to answer. If someone asks about developmental editing, your line editing answer probably won’t help, and you’ll just make yourself look silly.
Fight the FOMO!
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