Editor Time: Proofing OR Mind Games

pic by me

Did you catch it?

Last week’s goof?

Don’t worry if you hadn’t, it’s just further proof no one is perfect, no one catches every typo/mistake. Editors are human. No one can proof their own work.

Our mind…least mine does and from some pieces I’ve edited I feel safe enough to say so do some others…will run faster than our fingers can type. To the point we auto-type without thinking whether it’s and “it’s” or “its” or my favourite “who’s” versus “whose.”

I don’t have time to stop in a brainstorm and think which one to use, just let me get the blasted idea and words down. I’ll correct during edits.

Yup. Famous last words.

How many of you have seen the facebook picture where numbers have replaced letters and yet you can still read everything clearly? See, our minds will fill in the spaces.

Just hope the spaces you missed are the spaces every reader misses, too.

I’m going to share two examples of edits I completely missed. Is that a good thing to share? Really, am I not setting myself up, putting my authors’ trust on the line?

I think it’s a good thing. Editors are human and I firmly believe that an editor and author are a team. And teams work with each other. With that said, guess what…these edits I’m sharing were missed by me, another, and the author.

With that in mind, here they are:

1. Watch out for how your paragraphs start. It’s a visual thing, but still, ten paragraphs in a row all starting with the character’s name isn’t a good thing. Look at your work and see where you can mix it up a bit. We all like variety and not a reading pattern. Again, as the editor, I should have seen this, but my mind was reading not looking.

Lesson…Look as much as you read when proofing.

2. “She tripped over a spilled bottle of baby as she went to answer the door.”  Uhm, WHAT??? When did babies come in bottles? REALLY??? I missed that one? Seriously? Yup, and boy did Lea and I giggle over that one…Lea being the publisher and galley formatter who saved my butt and the author’s from readers and reviewers. Think back to that facebook picture I mentioned. Our minds filling in what our eyes skip over. How many times have you missed: a, an, the, is, it? It’s so easy.

Lesson…Read each word, not group or sentence. It’s means it is…read it as that and you won’t have an its instead. 

How does one proof their own work? Couple of suggestions:

1. Finish and walk away. 

Yup, just walk away from your piece for the bare minimum of a day. A week would be even better. Get the story out of your head. You will become story blind, walk away.

2. Read each word and you won’t be tripping over bottles of spilled baby.

3. Be conscious of words that you keep seeing. Write them out and then go highlight them all…you have how many “I” usages? 😉

4. Don’t do it all in one sitting. Walk away.

5. Get someone else to do it.

6. Someone once told me they read from the last word on the last page backward to the first word…reading for goofs not story.

7. If you start to daydream or forget what you’re doing…walk away and come back.


Now, I’m not going to re-read any of what I just wrote. I will do one spellcheck via Blogger and that’s it. Do I think I did this perfectly…nope, I never trust that I’ve written anything perfectly the first or any time. But, if you find a goof…there’s your proof EVERYTHING should be proofread.

Have fun and get writing!.