Proofs

I’ve had two lots of proofs arrive. In some ways, it’s thrilling. It means the book’s are on their way.

On the other hand, it can be quite irritating. First of all, you’re mad at yourself because of the typos you didn’t spot, and the misspelled words, and the clumsy sentences. The worst is your own computer which constantly flits between curly and straight inverted commas. Then you start to argue with the copy editor: Dad, for instance, is spelt with a capital letter when it’s used as a name, but not when it’s a generic word for a relation. Or you really did want that comma, because it’s there for a reason.

Sometimes the other edits beg different questions. Do you really need this character? Do you really need this paragraph?

There’s something even worse for me - the constant editor. If I was writing this book today, I’d write it even better. You move on all the time. Once books are out, I barely look at them. Because I know I’ll see things I want to alter.