Saturday, July 07, 2007

Proofreading Hell


Here's the reason for my silence yesterday. I was alseep after a marathon proofreading session that lasted all of Thursday, and took me well past midnight. I still only got to page 200 of 400. I hate to say it but proofreading is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. It's not a matter of reading -- which is easy -- but concentrating on every word. The eye so easily passes over mistakes that it's actually frightening how easily we're deceived. It's as though the mind is telling you what you're seeing, rather than actually showing you what's on the the page.

Did you see what I did their? Two 'the's is the killer, especially if they move over the
the line break. Harder to spot than a worn seam on a high tensile sports thong...

Did you spot my deliberate use of 'their' and not 'there'?

Today (well, actually, in a few minutes), I hope to post my second piece over at Ms. Baroque's blog. It's good to see that she's feeling better and I think she'll be quite relieved when it comes time to cancel my access to her blog. I'm determined to post a naked picture of myself before she locks me out

13 comments:

monix said...

Very mean of you to disguise the title of your novel. I bet there's a 'th' in it.

Big Chip Dale said...

Oh, would I really be that devious, Monix? Though, of course, you're right. You can't have 'thong' without a 'th'...

James Higham said...

...marathon proofreading session...

Interesting because that's a major proportion of my job - although the material is undoubtedly less colourful in my case.

Big Chip Dale said...

My dear Lord Straf-Dresden, do you know you bear an uncanny resemblance to that famous looker, Lord Higham?

Does proofreading get any better when it's not your own words? I find it very hard to tell myself a funny story. I tend to know all the punchlines.

Andrew said...

I seem to remember Edwina showing some sharp proof-reading skills here, Chip. Perhaps you might try & get her on board.

Ms Baroque said...

Chip, that looks like a mighty tome - I'm impressed. You have until Wednesday.

Big Chip Dale said...

Andrew, one mistake and she was onto me! Sometimes makes me wonder if the poor woman has much of a life. :)

Ms.Baroque: next Wednesday? I better get cracking... I've still got another 200 pages to go.

Shades said...

I can proofread anything that wasn't written by myself.

I still spot retrospective errors on old documents and blog entries.

Cognitive dissonance, I think they call it...

Ms Baroque said...

Chip, I meant Wednesday for the naked picture on my blog! Or were you planning on crashing Blogger by posting your entire novel on it? You can always update your Appleyard campaign for me...

Anonymous said...

(me sings) "I know what you're reading, I know what you're reading..." :)

Big Chip Dale said...

Ah, you've been inspecting the picture with a magnifying glass, Eliza!

Anonymous said...

There are lots of things on this site you need a magnifying glass to see Chip ;)

Big Chip Dale said...

I can't possibly know what you mean, Eliza. I admit the font can appear a bit small on larger monitors, but I've compensated for that my including a very large picture of my buttocks at the top of the screen.