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Whew...this process has given me newfound respect for copyeditors, proofreaders, and fact-checkers. Even though I've been over this manuscript a million times, I was still fixing weirdnesses to the very last minute: missing or extra words...punctuation problems...gender-switching siblings...over-hyphenation...excessive ellipsizing...even misspellings of words that I made up myself. (Seriously...spell check is useless with those.)
However, I am proud to say that my book is now officially flawless—it contains ZERO typos or errors of any kind!
One small note: those of you who do read Here Comes Your Man may encounter things that look like mistakes, but please don't be fooled—these are actually what I like to call "authenticities," simulated imperfections reintroduced to the text at great expense (much like the factory-made rips in the Gap's "Authentic" jeans).
Why do this? Well, the book had become so polished, I feared that people wouldn't believe I'd self-published it...and what would be the point of that? It would almost be like McDonald's making hamburgers that tasted like real beef, or someone creating "folk art" that was actually attractive. And nobody wants that.
A note on the process: Yes, I could've saved a few bucks by shipping this "imperfecting" work overseas, but my conscience wouldn't allow it. Plus, nobody does screw-ups the way we does them right here in the good old U.S. of A. (Except maybe Toyota, and I don't want my book to terrify people.)
Yet another note: If your eventual copy of Here Comes Your Man still isn't real enough for you, I can help! At no extra charge, I can paw through it while eating pizza, spill a soda of your choosing on the cover, or even dunk it in the bath. Also be sure to ask about our special treatments for pet lovers (slobbery, nibbled corners) and new parents (pages fused with oatmeal cereal).
One final note: If you find "errors" that actually interfere with your enjoyment of the text, please let me know—I don't want to be overly authentic. And I've never liked folk art.
You know that spell check lets you add words to its dictionary right? I find it super handy since it inherently dislikes the words herbaria, herbarium and curatorial (usually) which comes up for me a LOT. :) Can't wait to see your book.
ReplyDelete"Herbarium" is such a lovely word, it's sad that spellcheck doesn't know it! Even Firefox is at this very moment trying to bully me into typing "her barium" instead (which is considerably less lovely).
ReplyDeleteMcDonald's making hamburgers that taste like real beef? Man I hope your Uncle Rick doesn't read this. Lol. =)
ReplyDeleteThis got me laughing like I was over-hyphenation from excessive ellipsizing on my elliptical machine. Even my gender-switching siblings are looking at me oddly.
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