Letting go …

• Posted in About Books, On Writing

So I’ve been sending out e-ARCs of Tangled Threads to reviewers/bloggers, and a few folks have e-mailed me back letting me know about typos, small mistakes, etc. I’m really grateful for this, and I’ve been able to make some changes based on these e-mails. Even if it’s too late to make changes to the original version, I still pass along the info to my editor so the second and subsequent printings can be corrected (assuming the books go back to press).

But no matter who it’s from, whenever I get an e-mail pointing out a typo, etc., I always cringe a little inside because I hate, hate, hate that there are mistakes in my books. Argh! It makes me feel like Charlie Brown running up to kick the football and Lucy pulling it away from him at the last minute.

Believe me, I’ve tried to cut down on the typos and mistakes. I spend days (sometimes weeks) apiece on each round of rough drafts, revisions, copy edits, and page proofs. I probably read through each one of my books at least 10 times (if not more), editing pen in hand every single time. And still at the end when the book goes into print, there are typos and other mistakes that creep in.

Argh! I feel like I just hit the dirt again, just like poor ole Charlie Brown.

I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot since I just finished up the page proofs for Touch of Frost and am currently working on copy edits for Spider’s Revenge. I’ve looked at these pages until I can see them in my sleep, but every time I go back through them, I see something else that I could fix or tweak. Sigh.

I know that I’ve just got to make peace with the fact that my books are never going to be perfect. There’s always going to be some small typo that I don’t catch or a better word that I could have used somewhere — but letting go is never easy.

I think maybe the next time Lucy pulls the football away from me, I’ll just lay there on the ground awhile and take a nap. At least then, I’ll be well-rested. LOL. Until I get the next round of edits or page proofs, that is …

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18 Responses to “Letting go …”

  1. Jimmy Jones says:

    Maybe you need a better Beta Reader group to help you out.

    Looking forward to the book regardless.

    By the way, have you seen the cover for Naomi Clark’s Afterlife? It reminds me of your background.

    • Jennifer Estep says:

      I don’t know. I don’t think any book can ever be perfect given all the production steps that are involved. Plus, there are so many different editing styles out there — Associated Press, Chicago Manual, etc. — it just makes my head hurt. LOL.

      No, I haven’t. I’ll have to check it out.

  2. donnas says:

    Thats what I always hated about writing papers in school. Was the going back and reading them again and finding all kinds of things I would change. It would seriously get to a point where I would have to stop. Then when I would get it back and look at the professors notes I would get mad all over again. And that is probably a big part of why I could never be a writer but sincerely appreciate all of you that can.

    Looking forward to reading the new books!!

    • Jennifer Estep says:

      I know exactly what you mean. Even after my books come out, I still see little things that I want to tweak or could have don better. And in school with the professors’ comments, it was always like, why didn’t I think of that? Sigh …

      Cool. Glad you are looking forward to my books this year.

  3. Calliope says:

    It sounds like what you need are fresh eyes – ones that haven’t already read through it in one of it’s past incarnations. I know, for me at least, that my eyes just tend to skim over some parts when I reread something.

    Maybe what you need is a Gamma reader or two – someone to read through the rough draft in one of its later versions.

    • Jennifer Estep says:

      You’re probably right. I have my critique group and they read some stuff for me, but I’ve got so many projects going right now, I can’t ask them (or anyone else) to read everything I write. They’d just get sick of my work. Sometimes, I get sick of reading it myself. LOL.

  4. Julia S. says:

    Jennifer. I love your books. I love Tangled Threads and I think it is great that you’re learning to let go of the little mistakes. It happens to everyone, and your stories are so damn awesome that those little things don’t pop. I’m too focused on my favorite characters to notice these things. Fresh eyes always help… but I think it would feel better to let things go and take a nap for awhile, like you said 🙂 haha.

    Thanks for the opportunity to read Tangled Threads early. Can’t wait to share my review!

    • Jennifer Estep says:

      Actually, I’m pretty good at finding typos. I used to work for a newspaper and copy editing was part of my job. That’s why it makes me so crazy when I don’t catch a typo in my books — because I should know better. LOL.

  6. Liz says:

    I’m right there with you. I hate mistakes, big, little or otherwise. As a reader, a few little mistakes don’t both me. If there are only a few small things, to me its a sign that the author, editor, and others have spent time trying to make things as perfect as possible, and that’s what really matters. Also, to be honest I don’t remember noticing any errors that made me take pause in any of your previous books.

    • Jennifer Estep says:

      A few small typos don’t bother me as a reader either, but I absolutely hate them in my books as an author. Well, that’s good that you haven’t noticed any typos in my books, but I know they’re in there … Sigh …

  7. Erin says:

    I know exactly where you are coming from! I’m an editor-in-chief for a non-profit organization’s newsletter. No matter how long I stare at the articles there always seems to be a sneaky little typo here and there. I relied a lot of “beta readers” and after 6 proofs it manages to iron itself out. (but that’s only about 12 pages long…I couldn’t imagine novel scale!)

    If you ever do get interested in beta readers, for any purpose, I’d be happy to help. Sometimes it takes fresh eyes to see the Charlie Brown errors. ^^

    • Jennifer Estep says:

      I feel your pain. I used to work out a newspaper, and we would always get so many nasty phone calls/e-mails about typos, etc. I don’t think people realized that we were putting out the equivalent of a novel a day — with pictures. LOL.

  8. Michele Rioli says:

    Love your books Jennifer! Yeah, I edit and write reviews on books. My editor always seems to find a place were I left out a comma in my review. I use my spellcheck all the time and seek out unusual words to use. My thesaurus is really dogeared and full of tabs. One thing kind of neat to use is Autocrit. Ever tried it? It has some neat features that can help out when writing something. One thing about comma’s my editor told me, is if you read your sentence out loud to yourself and you naturally pause when reading it, a comma should go there. Can’t wait to read your new book!

  9. L.Blanchard says:

    Hi Jennifer,
    For what it is worth, I’ve done editing off and on for almost 20 years for publications and I also edited manuscripts for people self publishing. Typos tend to jump out at me (in everyone’s work but mine which I don’t see until it’s too late), but I’ve never seen any typos in your work. I have seen them in others in this genre but not yours. However if you are feeling frustrated, I’ve heard of authors setting up a second beta group that looks at things after the first one and the author think they are done, just to catch those last couple typos.
    PS I can’t wait for our interview/your guest blog

    • Jennifer Estep says:

      Well, I’m glad you haven’t spotted them, but believe me, they’re there. LOL.

      Speaking of the guest blog, is there anything in particular you want me to talk about? We can do a blog or interview — I’m cool with either one. I just need to get started on it since I have a bunch of deadlines in April …

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