No matter how often you read it....

I read and re-read that manuscript. I had a beta reader go through it. I read it again. I had another reader go through it. I read it again. Then I had it converted to upload on Kindle, etc,. and I proofed it on the Kindle.

And damn, but there's a wrong word in the wrong place in about the ninth paragraph in the book. It should read "....where I sat now." What is there is "...where I sat know."

Okay, deep breath, don't panic. Mistakes happen. But then I found another one, about 4 pages later. I found these while skimming through an uploaded copy on my iThing. When I saw that my initial thought was, "...pull all the copies, I'll upload a new version, Good Heavens, people will think I'm an idiot and don't know what I'm doing. I'm a professional writer, I have 20+ books out, I know what I'm doing, but they will see that boo-boo and..."

Okay. Deep breath. Yes, it's a mistake. Yes, it makes me cringe. But I have to learn to live with that. It happens. It happened with books that were read by editors and copy-editors. And it's still happening. I know why this happened. Because I was tired of the book.

I love the characters. Don't get me wrong. I think it's some of my strongest writing. But after reading, and re-reading, the old eyes can skim past errors. I let it sit for a few months, came back at it fresh, and I *still* missed the mistake (as did my other readers). I am trying to shrug it off, but man, that bugs me. I want my best product out there at all times and that includes the words on the page, the best plot I can envision, a great cover, and correct formatting (and even if I'm not doing all that myself, I still make sure I do the best I can).

When a mistake slips past, it just bugs the stuffing out me. I don't want anything to detract from Ned and Cari's story, but there it is, a glaring mistake that might make a reader stumble... But wait. It's been reviewed, by many people. No one mentioned that. Maybe it was glossed over. Maybe it was missed (joke: the book is Mist). Maybe the writing is strong enough to carry the book past that faux pas (and any others).

I sure hope so. Because I did try. I am a professional. I know how to write a good book. Mea culpa on this one, and I'll try harder for the next one.

Promise.



J L Wilson writes romance, suspense, mysteries, time travel, reincarnation love stories, and dystopian fantasy. Find out what she's doing at jayellwilson.com.