Q&A: Are Typos Worth Crying Over?
Or is it just me?
Okay, I’m mortified. I have what I laughingly call my ‘Author’s Page’, only because everyone else has one and some of them are exquisite and I’m a sheep. I’ve been building this page on WordPress and it’s like trying to do brain surgery blindfolded. They have blocks. Or sections. And a bunch of what they seem to think are sophisticated and cool but are actually complicated and diabolical methods of doing a main page, none of which have anything to do with writing.
I’ve spent hours on that thing. So much time, I’ve grown royally sick of it and I barely even go over there anymore. But I’m turning over new leaves. Remember? So I started working on it last week and gave it my all. (Almost said ‘my best’, but apparently not.)
I fixed some stuff! It looks pretty good! Not perfect. Not like I’d hired someone to do it and they were worth every penny. But better. I figured out how to move things! Not all, but some, since I’m clearly floundering and terrified that one simple click will send it all crashing to hell.
Which is silly, because I’ve never really liked the thing.
So the New and Improved version of my author’s page has been up for about a week. Last night I thought I should check to see how it looked on my phone and my iPad. The phone is ridiculous:
The iPad version looks better, except I’d really like to get rid of that white space on top.
But… WHAT?? How did I miss that? Did that say “I’ve began”? Seriously?
I don’t know for sure that it happened last week. Maybe it’s been there forever and I just never noticed. I’d like to think it once said, “I’ve been writing this blog since…”, which was true when I started my (cough, cough) Author’s Page, and last week I realized it was a damned lie, since I’ve shuttered that blog, and was changing it to “I began…” Past tense.
I’d like to think. But it’s fixed now. At least that part.
So here are my questions for the day:
Do other peoples’ typos bother you as much as they do me?
Would you ignore a glaring typo like that, or would you be like me and immediately drop that author down a peg or two? Maybe even move on without reading more?
How important are typos, really, now that people compose on phones with teeny-tiny keyboards?
Am I too picky? Are you?
I’m obsessed with my own typos. I’ve been known to go back into Edit just to change a period to a colon. I’ve changed the most minor things, even in posts that are 10 years old, yet my eagle-eye fails me all the time. And it’s getting worse. You’ll probably find typos as you read this thing, too.
So let’s talk about it. What do you think?
(End note: I found a typo! In this piece! Gaahhh… “I’m clearly floundering and terrified that one simple one click will”. Fixed it. Carry on.)
I didn't see any typos! I'm like you. My typos bother me, and I go back and edit and re-edit everything all the time. Every email and every text. I've gotten hooked on "talk to text," because I'm forever busy and in a hurry. But, talk to text butchers everything you say. So, I end up going back over it all and fixing mistakes. It's so silly. I do pride myself on catching typos, but I never would point them out to the author - because I'm human, and I also make typos.
It's funny I sent you a response to yesterday's post about StoryWorth right before I read today's post. It was about how my Dad made a lot of typos as he wrote down his stories for me, and they were his voice, and I loved every single letter. So, don't be so hard on yourself. You're human. :)
I may notice typos in another author's work, but generally dismiss them because I know how tough they can be to spot. My editor says our eyes tend to see what we expect to see and that's how they get past even several pair (or is it pairs?) of eyes.
I worked in the music publishing industry alongside my husband for many years and proofreading music is unbelievably difficult and time-consuming, and mistakes happen. Proofreading text is definitely easier. My fantastic beta readers pick up stuff. My editor of course fixes quite a bit. My final step in preparation is to read through the entire book aloud and I always spot a few things that were missed. So you can understand that by the time I send a book to be published I'm more than ready to throw it against a wall, but I think (hope) it's as ready as it will ever be.
However, my own typos drive me up the wall. When I am re-reading a book for some reason and spot a mistake I fix it. Jump through all the hoops, and yes, it bothers me that people own that book that has the typo iin it. Ugh. However, I don't lose sleep over it. We're all human.