First a big congrats to fantasy author Mysti Parker. She just celebrated her 5,000th hit on her blog “Unwritten.” I’ve only got about 3,400 more hits to catch up with you!
Secondly a big thanks to my friend Debbie Orta. She’s not only a mom, a great vocalist and an actor, but also a proofreader. Debbie volunteered to go through Die Laughing. It’s amazing how generous people can be. Deb, I can’t thank you enough!
Speaking of Die Laughing, I finally set up a Facebook fan page for my book. Take a look at it. I’ve got my promo video – where I try to channel Rod Serling – on there. I’ve put up movie posters of 1950’s sci-fi movies that influenced my writing of the story, and I’ve even got a quiz asking what your favorite movie of that era is. If you like the site, “help a poor alter boy out” and hit the ‘like’ button. (That quote is from The Exorcist, if memory serves me correctly.”
Okay enough of the plug, back to the topic.
Before Deb’s proofreading I went over the book twice more myself after it being proofread at least four times earlier. This is humiliating to say, but I still had characters being called by different names! I had Hoover Dam spelled like Hoover Damn. I had one character, Francis, referred to once as France. Sheesh – how embarrassing would all that have been? In my blog on the Nuts ‘n Bolts of submission, I stressed the importance of proofreading, well here I am a classic example of why you can never overdue the process!
It’s the publisher’s turn to proof it again, and then I’m going to go through the galley. Anyone want to bet there’s still more correcting to do?
It’s a headache for sure, but nowhere near the pain of having your work published with errors in it. And really, who do you blame? After all, as the author, the buck stops with me. Keep writing everyone…and keep proofreading!
I can't tell you how useful other eyes have been to me. I owe my writer soul to my critique partners. Still, on my very last revision, I caught Jayden wanting to tear someone apart with his "bear" hands. That invokes a funny picture :)
ReplyDeleteYou'll never get rid of every single typo (I still cringe over a few), but the more eyes and rounds of proofing, the better for sure!
PS, I'm working on your interview questions, so you should get them shortly.
I'm with you on that, Mysti. My writing group is my lifeline.
ReplyDeleteTypos are like cockroaches - no matter how hard you try, the pesky critters keep showing up.
Great - I'm looking forward to it!