I have the problem that I can edit for “is it saying what I am trying to get across?” *or* “is it saying everything correctly?” But not both in the same pass. So your glitch is exactly what I do to myself all the time. 🫤
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.
Checking for typos in an entire book has to be torture! Just a single essay is bad enough. You do have the advantage of other eyes on your project, and that has to be a relief. But they do slip past. I see them in books all the time.
A friend of mine who wrote mysteries always spelled 'past' as 'passed' and they were almost never corrected. I never told her I found them--why add to her angst?--but it became her signature, for me at least.
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 can't do talk to text. I've heard those horror stories. I'm a fast typist, so I can type almost as fast as I can think, and I can usually correct as I go. But typos are always a problem for me. You would think I'd be calmer about them by now, but no.
I read your comment about your Dad and StoryWorth and I need to look at that. It sounds like the perfect solution to getting older people to write their stories. I wish I'd known about it when my husband was still alive. It would have worked well, I think. I gave him a journal and nagged at him to fill it, but all he ever wrote were incomplete notes that never told the whole story.
I read somewhere that getting worked up about typos is a sign of psychopathy. Unfortunately, that's definitely me. My own typos are an affront to my existence and really annoy me. But, nobody's perfect.
In the mobile/hyper-digital age I've learned to let the first two, maybe three, slide. More than that suggests the author doesn't care about their work, so why should I?
As an indie writer who pays an editor, line editor and formatter in order to present my novels to the world, I'm mortified when maybe two or three years later, I read one of my books and find a typo.
The good thing is that I can re-submit for e-books at no charge. But for print, a new file submitted to Ingram-Spark costs. So yes, I would weep for a minute and then try and forget about it. Life's too short... PS: you did your website yourself? Wow! Go girl! I have a web-man who is my super-hero!!!!!
Prue, I started out building my own blogs on Blogspot, which is super-easy. I've had two of them there and one on WordPress, when WordPress still made it easy, too. Now they've gone to blocks and junk and it's been a hassle. But I like the layout, and I worked damned hard on it, so I think I'm stuck for now.
It would have made more sense to hire someone, I guess, but I'm a penny-pincher and if I think I can do it myself I'll go for it. Not always a good plan. LOL
It's astonishing that I ever get anything done! When I win the lottery I'm definitely going to pay someone big bucks to take care of all of the non-writing stuff that goes along with this business.
I can empathize, Ramona. Typos upset me for a couple of reasons: ego and self-esteem. My ego is bruised when I realize readers might’ve come across typos I caught after the fact because I don’t want them to think I don’t know any better. That thought makes me feel shame. My self-esteem takes a hit because I question my attention to detail and my worth ethic when I spot typos after I’ve published a piece of writing.
To be fair to me, I do manage these feelings better as I get older, but the impulses remain. Unfortunately, I think they remain because there’s a part of me that thinks my writing wouldn’t be as sharp without them.
I always go back in and edit any typos, punctuation errors, etc. I cannot help it! Totally understand where you're coming from. I really wish I had an editor.
Scoot over. I need a spot on that bench! Typos make me butt-clenchy, and I get a lot of gluteal exercise. Once found, I'm desperate to fix them, and I always have a twinge of regret at not being able to go back and fix what gets sent out via email. Thank goodness for the edit option where it exists! Likewise, formatting hiccups (as in Ram-ona) are also troubling and often harder to correct than typos. I could say that I'm working on it, or that I should, but I have a strong hunch that's something about me (us?) that's not going to change. Perfectionists, untie! *wink* (p.s. Edited a typo up there - haha!)
My soulmate! The worst is when my piece is out of my control and it's published with a typo or other type of nightmare. I wrote about a judge once and 'jurist' became 'purist'. He was also an author, and when I introduced him at a writer's conference I told that story. It got a huge laugh, so in that case it was worth it!
When I was writing my column for a twice-weekly local paper, they messed it up so often my editor got tired of my complaining and told me to come down to the printing plant and edit my own stuff. It ended up being a job, and I went on to edit other pages, as well as writing headlines. (The editor was a lazy SOB and the pay was peanuts but I actually loved doing it.)
My own typos destroy me. I am convinced that my typos are not only noticed, but savored by my enemies -- though I've yet to consider why my enemies would read my stuff.
Even worse, those I admire, or call my friends, certainly would reconsider any actual or potential association they have with me, and I die lonely and humiliated.
However, other people's typos, misspelling and grammatical errors only make me want to hug them for their beautiful humanity. xo
I'm an English teacher, so my mistakes bother me SOOOO much. I've been known to get a piece published and then write the editor (who also missed my mistake) and have begged them to fix it. Because I'm an English teacher and I just can't have mistakes in public, right???
No typos in your letter, Ramona! 😊
I have the problem that I can edit for “is it saying what I am trying to get across?” *or* “is it saying everything correctly?” But not both in the same pass. So your glitch is exactly what I do to myself all the time. 🫤
Well, that's a relief! Thanks for checking. And commenting.
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.
Checking for typos in an entire book has to be torture! Just a single essay is bad enough. You do have the advantage of other eyes on your project, and that has to be a relief. But they do slip past. I see them in books all the time.
A friend of mine who wrote mysteries always spelled 'past' as 'passed' and they were almost never corrected. I never told her I found them--why add to her angst?--but it became her signature, for me at least.
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 can't do talk to text. I've heard those horror stories. I'm a fast typist, so I can type almost as fast as I can think, and I can usually correct as I go. But typos are always a problem for me. You would think I'd be calmer about them by now, but no.
I read your comment about your Dad and StoryWorth and I need to look at that. It sounds like the perfect solution to getting older people to write their stories. I wish I'd known about it when my husband was still alive. It would have worked well, I think. I gave him a journal and nagged at him to fill it, but all he ever wrote were incomplete notes that never told the whole story.
I read somewhere that getting worked up about typos is a sign of psychopathy. Unfortunately, that's definitely me. My own typos are an affront to my existence and really annoy me. But, nobody's perfect.
In the mobile/hyper-digital age I've learned to let the first two, maybe three, slide. More than that suggests the author doesn't care about their work, so why should I?
Well, perfectionism is a type of psychopathy, I guess. Mine has proven to be malignant over the years, but I'm working on it!
Yes, the digital age probably has much to do with our need to change with the times. I'm working on that, too!
As an indie writer who pays an editor, line editor and formatter in order to present my novels to the world, I'm mortified when maybe two or three years later, I read one of my books and find a typo.
The good thing is that I can re-submit for e-books at no charge. But for print, a new file submitted to Ingram-Spark costs. So yes, I would weep for a minute and then try and forget about it. Life's too short... PS: you did your website yourself? Wow! Go girl! I have a web-man who is my super-hero!!!!!
Prue, I started out building my own blogs on Blogspot, which is super-easy. I've had two of them there and one on WordPress, when WordPress still made it easy, too. Now they've gone to blocks and junk and it's been a hassle. But I like the layout, and I worked damned hard on it, so I think I'm stuck for now.
It would have made more sense to hire someone, I guess, but I'm a penny-pincher and if I think I can do it myself I'll go for it. Not always a good plan. LOL
Ramona, I'm a complete Luddite and shed feathers when anything goes wrong technically. I think you're astonishing!
It's astonishing that I ever get anything done! When I win the lottery I'm definitely going to pay someone big bucks to take care of all of the non-writing stuff that goes along with this business.
Until then, I'm afraid I'm stuck with me. LOL.
I can empathize, Ramona. Typos upset me for a couple of reasons: ego and self-esteem. My ego is bruised when I realize readers might’ve come across typos I caught after the fact because I don’t want them to think I don’t know any better. That thought makes me feel shame. My self-esteem takes a hit because I question my attention to detail and my worth ethic when I spot typos after I’ve published a piece of writing.
To be fair to me, I do manage these feelings better as I get older, but the impulses remain. Unfortunately, I think they remain because there’s a part of me that thinks my writing wouldn’t be as sharp without them.
You've described me in a nutshell, Pablo. Yes, yes, and yes!
I always go back in and edit any typos, punctuation errors, etc. I cannot help it! Totally understand where you're coming from. I really wish I had an editor.
Me too! I left a comment at your piece about the number 47. Loved that!
Scoot over. I need a spot on that bench! Typos make me butt-clenchy, and I get a lot of gluteal exercise. Once found, I'm desperate to fix them, and I always have a twinge of regret at not being able to go back and fix what gets sent out via email. Thank goodness for the edit option where it exists! Likewise, formatting hiccups (as in Ram-ona) are also troubling and often harder to correct than typos. I could say that I'm working on it, or that I should, but I have a strong hunch that's something about me (us?) that's not going to change. Perfectionists, untie! *wink* (p.s. Edited a typo up there - haha!)
My soulmate! The worst is when my piece is out of my control and it's published with a typo or other type of nightmare. I wrote about a judge once and 'jurist' became 'purist'. He was also an author, and when I introduced him at a writer's conference I told that story. It got a huge laugh, so in that case it was worth it!
When I was writing my column for a twice-weekly local paper, they messed it up so often my editor got tired of my complaining and told me to come down to the printing plant and edit my own stuff. It ended up being a job, and I went on to edit other pages, as well as writing headlines. (The editor was a lazy SOB and the pay was peanuts but I actually loved doing it.)
I'm a bit mixed on the issue.
My own typos destroy me. I am convinced that my typos are not only noticed, but savored by my enemies -- though I've yet to consider why my enemies would read my stuff.
Even worse, those I admire, or call my friends, certainly would reconsider any actual or potential association they have with me, and I die lonely and humiliated.
However, other people's typos, misspelling and grammatical errors only make me want to hug them for their beautiful humanity. xo
I'm an English teacher, so my mistakes bother me SOOOO much. I've been known to get a piece published and then write the editor (who also missed my mistake) and have begged them to fix it. Because I'm an English teacher and I just can't have mistakes in public, right???