Tag Archives: Typographical error

Oh No! Please tell me it’s not too late to fix that!

Posted on November 28, 2012 | 30 comments

Cripes. A typo. Happens to everyone, right? But I just found one in the final edited version of “Connect the Dots” that I already signed off on weeks ago, and is due to release in eight days.

You know how I found it? It’s really dumb. I was calling up a random six sentences for Six Sentence Sunday. I used an internet based randomizer, and dernit if that thing didn’t land right on the typo!

I stared at it three times. No! That’s not possible! Am I looking at the wrong file? No? Oh, Crud!

I placed a panicked call to my publisher, who got back to me today with some valium a smile on her face and said they were able to catch it in time.

Whew!

Darlene is my new favorite person in the whole wide world!

Have you ever had a close call like that?

Typos and Grammar Woes: The Perils of Writing Things Down (mgirouxstories.wordpress.com)
Why Are Ebooks Riddled With Typos? (forbes.com)
Typo’s are my middle name (lauriemcdaniel.wordpress.com)
Why is an ebook ever riddled with typos? (theverge.com)
Don’t spoil a good story with bad editing (editorspen.wordpress.com)

30 Comments

Posted in Author Advice, Road to Publication, Senseless Ranting

Tagged Optical character recognition, proofread, Typographical error

I am Such a Stinking Idiot. I Swear!

Posted on August 15, 2012 | 60 comments

I’ve submitted two works in hopes of publication. Last Winter Red was accepted, and will be published in December. Yay! But what was the other one?

The first writing I ever submitted was early this year. It was a 2,000 word short-story for a magazine.

This magazine is very well-respected, and takes submissions until the end of January. They choose the best out of the submissions to publish at different times during the year.

Their requirements were very clear. It needed to be about a dog, the dog could not talk, and it had to be polished and ready for publication.

Hello, let me introduce myself.

I am an idiot

Well, heck, I had a story about a dog! I ran it through some betas, worked it until I wanted to spit, and submitted it.

I never heard back from them. Not a squeak. And I can’t even say they didn’t get it, because I have a tracking number. They got it.

I guess it’s okay that they didn’t respond. They said they would only notify those who were chosen.

Anyway… I stewed over it for a while. Why wasn’t mine good enough?

I read the magazine, and my story beginning might not have been a fit for their readers, but the ending sure was. A story is a journey, right? I just figured my beginning may have been the problem, and moved on.

A few months ago, my writers group announced that they would be publishing an anthology, and asked all members to consider submitting. I thought about this 2,000 word story. The chances that I would send it out to any other magazine were slim.

Soo….. I opened up my final submitted version, and gave it a read for the first time in four months.

My eyes widened after reading the second line. No! It can’t be! I scanned back to the beginning, and started over.

Yes. It can be. Right there … In the second stinking line.

A TYPO.

How the heck many times did I proofread this? How many betas did I go through? How much time expended?

A Typo. Not just a typo. A BIG BLARING TYPO! So much for “Polished and ready for publication”.

Hello, let me introduce myself. I am an idiot. They probably never even read past the second line.

Yep, it’s me. I am an idiot. Feel free to smack me. Ugh!