Where Love Once Lived is Officially Finished

Yesterday, I received the final edits from CreateSpace and accepted them. This means the revisions are complete. That's daunting to think about, because I know there are more typos in there somewhere. You wouldn't believe how many competent people have read the manuscript and each time more problems are spotted. I've given up on doing it myself. Evidently, I see what I think should be there.

I'm pretty good about finding mistakes in other people's writing, even if I can't see anything wrong with my own. I once, hesitantly, since the book was out in print, pointed out some minor problem with several Bonnie Hearn Hill books. She acted pleased that one of her students was able to find typos her publisher hadn't noticed. In Off the Record, page 33, the word as was left out of this sentence: It was [as] if someone was looking at me... Then, on page 306 of Killer Body, the word loves should be love: ...when someone we loves leaves this earth. So, if the many editors at Mira missed these errors, I have little chance of making it to publication error free. Sorry, Bonnie, but I needed some examples. You're not only a great writer, you're the best editor I know. So, if these minor typos get into your published book, my point is made. I can say my book is officially finished today even though I know there are still some gremlins hiding somewhere in those 86,000 words. For information about Bonnie's books, see: http://sidneywfrost.com/book2.htm.

If I didn't need more support for what I know will happen, I received an email from Brian Donelson yesterday telling about his book publishing experience. You may remember from an earlier article, the character Brian Donelson in Where Love Once Lived is named after my friend because the book character was called BD (bookmobile driver) until I could think of a name. Anyway, here is what Brian said:

The biggest mistake was not hiring a professional editor. I grossly underestimated the difficulty in proofing and editing a book. I had four very intelligent, literate, people proof it and there are still a lot of mistakes. A few factual, but only because of info that came to light during later research, but a lot that are careless punctuation and grammatical. It drives me nuts because I know better, but I have learned that when you read something long, you often see what your mind knows should be on the page, not what is actually there.

You can find information about Brian's book, The Coming of the Train, here: http://htandw.com/.

I did hire a professional editor. Several, actually. The final edit was done by a magazine copyeditor working for CreateSpace. I am happy with what she has done. It was the most expensive part of the publishing project since the cost is based on the number of words.

If you find any typos in this article, be sure to let me know. I edited it four times.