Dear Booksharian Friends,
When I was first learning the computer I’d jerk back as if I’d been burned if I
thought I’d struck the wrong key. My teachers would say something like, “Take
it easy, you won’t break it.”
I’ve had a book called Polly from Larry Lumpkin for 6 weeks! I was so motivated
when I proofread it that I stayed up until after daylight to finish it. Then a
big, bad thing happened. I was finishing up my last checks, spell checking,
page numbering checking, asterisk and dash and double dash spacing checking,
title page and chapter formatting checking, and somewhere as that was going on
all of the letter A, both upper and lower case vanished from the book, every
single one from the back cover to the last page! My feelings of accomplishment
vanished with the ayes.
I was so annoyed that I ignored Polly for weeks. I knew I’d have to start all
over, that replacing the ayes as I went along would take longer and have a
greater risk of my introducing errors than starting over. Part of the problem
was that that having read every word of Polly as I do with all the books I
proofread, I knew I’d be very bored rereading it.
Yesterday I finally dug in and started over with Polly and tonight I checked it
in.
My computer has been doing strange things lately. It’s 6 and a half years old
and has been damaged since a friend wrongly installed our new printer. As much
as I’d like to blame the missing Ayes on my computer I feel quite sure, in my
sleepiness, I keyboarded something wrong.
I’m sharing this to illustrate how, after proofreading many, many hundreds of
books with deranged perfectionist care, you can flub up in a never before
experienced way.
Feel free to share any of your flubbings so I won’t feel like the only one.
I once advised a proofreader not to work when tired. Time to follow my own
advice.
Always with love,
Lissi
