What do you do after your book is done, at the printer in fact, and you see something on the manuscript you want to change? Nothing glaring, or even blatant. Not a typo or spelling error, or anything like that. My God, after twelve pairs of eyes pouring over these stories, you'd think we would have found everything.
But then you see something minor ... a missed comma, or a word that would make more sense to change to something else. How many times do you go over something before you can say it's finished? I begin to imagine some hot shot editor or agent reading my work and thinking ... What an idiot, she used rural and country in the same sentence! Geesh.
I start to sweat and wonder ... who will notice this? But I remember why I did it. I remember thinking that small towns in the middle of nowhere - to me, are rural. But in my story, I was referring to a rural spot in the country - meaning farmland, countryside, few houses - not a rural spot in a country town.
But, I'm just sure somebody - somewhere will look at this and say, "Yeah, and I'll be she says she writes novels of fiction!"
I wonder if Nora Roberts labors over her work like this? I wonder if Dan Brown spends hours and hours proofreading his work? Somehow, I doubt it. They've already "made it." They have a staff for stuff like this.
It's the little writers like me that sweat the small stuff.
Oh well, there are a few things I'm confident about. The stories are solid in their structure, they hold the reader, and they're full of conflict, twists, turns, and good old-fashioned storytelling. The characters are wonderful, you'll love them and even hate a few. They are great stories, I admit.
So, if they want to point fingers at this word, or that missed comma, they need to put it down and go read the perfect novel ... I'm sure it's out there.
Blessings to you and yours.
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