An author's eyes go blind to their own work after a certain point. You know the manuscript so well you can practically recite it in your sleep, and so, when you attempt to edit it, your eyes skim over errors, seeing what's supposed to be there instead of what's actually typed on the page. Not good. . .About three weeks ago, I sent five copies of the Dawn's Early Light manuscript out to a writer's conference in Washington state via good friend and fellow author, Liz Adair, (Counting the Cost). My hope was that a few conference attendees would read the manuscript and provide some early reviews. I ended up getting so much more out of that opportunity.
During that time I had hired an excellent editor to do a final copy edit on the manuscript before it headed to the printer. After her read-through, I felt completely confident that we were ready to start running copies. And then I received an email from one of my volunteer reviewers that included this disastrous line--
"I hope you caught that major typo on the back cover."
Major typo? On the back cover?
I read and reread the cover over and over. I saw nothing, and I felt for certain she had received an old, early rendition that had been long corrected. But just to be sure, I wrote back asking, "Could you point out that typo? I'm sure it's been corrected, but just in case. . ."
It hadn't been. Had she not pointed it out, Dawn's Early Light would have gone to print with a glaring error on its back cover. As it was, I barely was able to sneak the change in before it went off to the printer.
So here's a great big thank you to multiple award-winning author Tanya Parker Mills, (The Reckoning), to whom I now owe two great debts of gratitude . . . one for saving my cover, and one for the honor of receiving her crisp, detailed, and favorable review of Dawn's Early Light.
Click here to read her review, and while you're there, check out her celebrated titles as well.
Wish you could have been there with us at the Writers Retreat. Tanya wrote a great review, didn't she? She really knows how to string the words together.
ReplyDeleteShe certainly does. A positive review is always a treat, but Tanya's made my day. Thanks for making the introduction. I hope I get to meet her in person. It would be a pleasure.
ReplyDeleteThe pleasure would be all mine. If you ever get out this way, or if you end up being a Whitney Finalist (I'm nominating your book) and will be at the LDStorytellers Conference in April, let's hook up! I don't get back to D.C. very often, but if I do I'll certainly look you up.
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