Yesterday I had yet another argument with a writer over grammar. He had asked me to review his book for my website, and as always I allowed him to see the review before it was posted. If a review is bad, I give the author an option for me not to post it. I won't change the review, but I will not publish it online if the author asks me not to.
In this case, the review was bad. The book had been poorly edited, and I don't even think it was run through a spellchecker. It was another case of a self-publishing author thinking he can edit his own work, with disastrous results.
He was irate. I was called a "grammar nazi" that didn't even bother to pay attention to his story. I explained to him I couldn't understand the story, because I kept trying to translate what he meant.
I've said this a million times. Spelling and grammar are the building blocks of writing. If you do not have a firm grasp of those two basic building blocks, you can't claim to be a good writer. I'm not saying we have to be perfect. Anyone who has ever found a typo in one of my gather articles knows I'd be a hypocrite if I claimed that! But when you produce a work specifically to showcase your talents and to sell to the public, you had better make sure you have dotted your "i"s and crossed your "t"s...both literally and figuratively.
And no, no writer is so talented that he or she can proofread and edit his or her own work. We are, in fact, the worst people to try, because we know what we MEANT to say. Therefore, we don't always see what we actually wrote.
So as I was contemplating this article, I went into the break room to get a cup of coffee. Someone had posted a copy of an e-mail on the bulletin board entitled "Church Bulletins." You have probably seen this list before, particularly if you have friends and family members prone to spamming you with jokes and chain letters. But the timing of this bulletin board posting was too good to pass up.
Why we all need proofreaders:
A proofreader's job is to catch all of those embarrassing typos and grammar errors that can completely change the meaning of your sentence. It is amazing how one wrong word, a misplaced comma, or wrong letter can completely change the meaning of a sentence.
Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community.
The rosebud on the altar this morning is to announce the birth of David A. Belzer, the sin of Rev. and Mrs. Julius Belzer.
The Lutheran Men's group will meet at 6 PM. Steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, bread and dessert will be served for a nominal feel.
Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles, and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
Pastor is on vacation. Massages can be given to church secretary.
The choir will meet at the Larsen house for fun and sinning.
The senior choir invites any member of the congregation who enjoys sinning to join the choir.
For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say, "hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you.
Why we all need editors:
While a proofreader checks for technical errors, an editor makes sure you are actually communicating what you meant to communicate. Editors make suggestions to reword passages to better convey your intent. Without a good editor, you may make the completely wrong impression upon your audience.
Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions. She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Jack's sermons.
Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale, It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don't forget your husbands.
The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.
This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs. Johnson to come forward and lay an egg on the Altar.
The service will close with "Little Drops of Water". One of the ladies will start quietly and the rest of the congregation will join in.
The ladies of the church have cast off clothing of every kind and they may be seen in the church basement on Friday.
Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on Oct. 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in school days.
On a church bulletin during the minister's illness: "GOD IS GOOD. Dr. Hargreaves is better."
Potluck supper: prayer and medication to follow.
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Comments: 48
I understand that there are some professional writers on here as well, and maybe this was meant JUST for them. If so then I just wasted space, HA!! Have a great day!
*Ignore any grammatical errors contained in this comment.
I wasn't really talking about general blog posts. I was more talking to folks who send out submissions to publishers or who get involved in independent publishing. You can have all of the grammar errors you want on gather...unless of course those errors appear in an article promoting a proofreading service!
Writers should self-edit as well, use the spell checker and a good thesaurus. It helps with the writing process.
vjw
Julie, if I ever venture into this as a life long dream, I will send you an email and let you critique me till I am on my hands and knees begging you to stop! I promise =D
( I really doubt you will have to worry about that though, I have too much laundry that is screaming my name day in and day out, wait or is that the babies? ...)
(Referring also to publications. I know I make plenty of typos when I'm just ranting or blogging. :) )
I'm part of a group of writers here, and I've come to trust a couple of them to proof and/or edit my work. But first, you need to be open to anything that's said. Second, you have to be good enough yourself to sift through the critique, and decide what's right, and what you need to change, and what advice you can ignore. Don't expect to simply be able to tell a story and expect someone else do all the housekeeping for you.
I loved what she wrote, but had such a struggle to understand it.
Spell check might have helped, but she had so many homonyms confused that the assistance would have been minimal.
She took it well, considering. I loved her stories, but hated to suffer through them.
I had to demand someone where I used to work e-mail me her documents - I'd redlined every page of the last one I'd received - I got nothing ... she eventually lost the job.
When I see what's published online it makes me wonder what people are learning in schools today. Teachers are some of the offenders too. Great article!
Thanks for posting to Writing Essentials.
This was a great article.
Too bee or knot too bee, that is the question.
www.ronnierayjenkins.com
All I can say is that the editor or proofreader on that later book did an abysmal job and I was polite but did note the typos.
At first she was mad. Then she forgave me and acknowledged the reality. It was interesting to realize that even top authors can have books come out that are full of typos. I don't mind one or two but when a book is filled with them...well, it just irks me.
On the other hand, sometimes the ONLY way to tell a first edition book is by a particular typo. In that case, a typo can mean the difference between a ten dollar book and a book worth 20,000 dollars or more. :)
LOL......Julie, this was well writen, and I love the humor you delivered your point with!
If you intend to self-publish, it doesn't have to be all that hard. A lot of professional writers offer proofreading and editing services. On average, you can expect to pay $1 per page for proofreading and $1-$3 per page for editing. It just isn't cost effective for a self-publisher to spend more than that. As for references and samples.
You can also always try your local college's English department. All of those English Education majors looking for jobs related to their major would fall over themselves for a chance to add the word "Editor" to their resume before a job hunt!
"Remarkably, half of Japan's top-10 selling works of fiction in the first six months of the year were composed the same way – on the tiny handset of a mobile phone. They sold an average of 400,000 copies."
http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/2007/12/04/novels-in-text-message-form/
I think a little piece of me just died...
I find that my grammar has grown worse over the years. It used to be fairly good, but I used to live in a highly-sheltered academic world where the standard of sentence construction, even for casual conversation, was very high. Now I live in the real world.
Well, ogg to wprk igo!
You can ask Stephanie B., Jamie C., Jeff M. or Courtney M. about me, but I also have edited for non-Gather people.
I also recently joined a site called EditFast.com which is a repository of editors looking for work.
But let me know if you need help!
Other peeves include not knowing when to use hyphens, not knowing when to use semi-colons (not dashes!), not understanding that objects of prepositions are *not* subjects to agree with the next verb (grrr!) and refusing to use a dictionary when not sure which homophone to use.
When I joined Gather, I was told it was a place where serious writers would help one another. That includes editing-related comments. A few months later that dreadful bzz-agent crowd spewed itself in, and the tone of Gather went down the toilet. The level of writing sank into the pits of the water reclamation plant. Those of us who value good spelling and grammar are treated like what the bzz-agent group actually is, the remains in the water reclamation plant.
For years, I have taught one of the most rigorous grammar courses in the English-speaking world, Grammar for TOEFL Prep. I've also taught college Freshman Comp and college ESL Freshman Comp. However, I know I still make mistakes and typos and need other eyes to catch them. It shocks and appalls me how many people don't even want to improve their work.
During the past few months, I have read two books that were obviously self-published. The first was a work of fiction with great potential as an enthralling book about growing up in Sicily during WWII. The writer's L1 interference was so extensive that I found it an entertaining source of data about Italian L1 interference. I doubt that readers without my academic background (grad degrees + creds in Romance linguistics, theoretical lx and TESOL) would be as much entertained as confused by it. The other was considerably better; there were, however, just enough subtle errors to make me examine the front matter and learn that the book was self-published. I believe it was intended as a family memoir, however.
Letting typos lie and failing to proofread one's work constitute profound disrespect for readers. Unfortunately, Gather has turned into such a point-whoring mess that serious writers who take care to do a good job before publishing are actually the losers here. I wish it would change back to the good old days before the bzz-agent dreadfuls found Gather.
I have the same problem - there've been things I've read that enrage me because of the prevalence of grammar and spelling errors - particularly the apparent inability to distinguish between "where" and "were" (I thought that was a pretty obvious distinction) as well as "its" and "it's".
If I had turned in a paper to any of my teachers or professors (English or History) with as many errors as I see in "professional" works, I would have received a horrible grade.