I feel like Tiger Woods, but without the billion dollars.
I owe you an apology. The post that went out on the RSS Feed last night, and was distributed via email this morning, was chock-full of typos and crappy writing. I’m embarrassed. And I apologize. You deserve better.
It was late, I’m under more than a few guns, and my wife — who normally proofs me — wasn’t feeling well and had gone to bed. Not an excuse, not even a good explanation — I should plan around these moments — but it’s all I have. It’s just the truth. And it sucks.
So once again — this isn’t the first time I’ve been here — I commit to doing better. I thank the frustrated reader who brought this to my attention, and I thank all of you for hanging in there with me on this journey.
I look forward to our continued sharing of this experience.
The typos — to the best of my shabby proofing abilities and with my wife still off the editorial grid — have been addressed, if you’d care to give it another go.
More deconstruction of “An Education” coming on Friday.
24 Responses
Good job.
Thanks so much Larry. I am learning so much, but it may take many more deconstructions for the process to become second nature when writing. Please find us another movie to watch. The movies you pick are some of the best.
Thank God for our wives. 🙂 At our house, If Norma did’nt knw how to grammatise ever thng id kind of in a reelly bad messss.
You won’t get any grief from me. Let’s rock and roll.
You don’t owe us an apology, Larry! Easy on yourself! We’re all human. Besides, you provide so much value all the time. So what if something like this happens!
Look at it from a fictional perspective: in the eyes of your readers and subscribers, it makes you an even more believable character with flesh and bones, good times and bad times, feats and mistakes – a real person right from the heart of life.
My husband does the proofreading for me, and when there’s no time for him to do it, I get terribly nervous (scared to hell, actually, since English is not my mother tongue).
I think we all love hanging in there with you on this journey!
Please don’t even spend another minute on this and keep on deconstructing please! I can’t wait for the rest 🙂
Okay… 50 lashes with a whole wheat spaghetti noodle for you!
We loves ya, Larry! Keep on caring. That’s what makes you great! You once offered to do a guest post on The ScribeChat Review—and I’d LOVE you to do that. Any time you’re not feeling too overwhelmed with other things. Let me know.
You are way too hard on yourself. Tiger Woods wished he had a few “typos” instead of the mess he created. You’re just human. Nothing catastrophic. Nothing to beat yourself up over . Nothing for us readers to spend time or energy thinking about. Next post please. They’re always inspiring. Which is more than I can say for Tiger.
Thanks for sharing, Larry. Whew! You’re NOT perfect, after all. There’s hope for me yet. I always try to read things aloud, but alas, things still slip through. And geez. Anyone out there who depends on a spell-check program is in big trouble. Typos keep us all on our toes.
Your site is by far the best resource for writers. Keep on, Larry.
P.S. This comment was edited after discovering two typos.
You’re not alone. I do this all too often. When I catch it after it’s been posted, I just go and fix it. Doesn’t help that it goes out on RSS before the fixes are made, but what’re ya gonna do, right?
How ironic (or not) you wrote this today. Yesterday I sent off a humor column on spec and only after I clicked ‘send’ did I notice huge, HUGE gaping errors. Paul’s right on the read aloud bit. I knew it, but I didn’t do it. Maybe tattooing it on the forehead is the next step.
Anyway. Nice to know I’m not alone in my mess-ups. Thanks for being human.
Larry, I’m with the others. Thanks for all you do for us writers. I’ve learned so much from you. 🙂 Misty
ps. I got the goosebumps from your whisper epilogue! gorgeous!
Thoroughly agree with the previous commentators. And I’m sure you have thought of this before – but just in case you haven’t …..
Read it aloud! Even into thin air. For me, as a regular Blog author elsewhere, that’s what works. Much better if you have someone to read it to but, somehow, having to read words as part of a speaking process makes the mistakes and the tangled syntax leap off the page at you.
Keep up the excellent work,
PaulH
Larry, I’m so relieved to see that you’re not perfect. I was beginning to worry. Cheers for being so human. Carry on…
Larry it is your humanity that makes your writing so great! The day any of us stop making mistakes is the day we stop learning…
Don’t beat yourself up so much — keep up the great work! 😉
Judith
Totally agree with Sean. You have helped me so much and as a dyslexic, the last thing I’m going to whinge about is couple of typos.
Fiona
No need to apologize. Just keep the great content flowing. By the way, your lead is the best I’ve seen in quite some time. Thank YOU for sharing so much with your readers.