Errors

I sometimes wonder if it is impossible to print a book without it having at least one error, or quite a number of errors.

I finally formatted a Large-Print edition of Life After Life for the fifth proof copy of the book, and gave it to my 79 year-old mother to read. I gave it to her on Friday morning, and she had finished all 389 pages (Large Print was 100 pages more than the smaller print version) by noon on Saturday. She pointed out four places that could be better, including my having put the wrong character's name in a sentence, WHERE IT WAS ALL CAPS at the beginning of a scene.

None of the other proof readers, including myself, had seen that.

But I am not alone in printing a book with errors.

J.K. Rowling made at least two significant errors in her Harry Potter books. Error number one: The first volume has the ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, saying he hasn't eaten anything in nearly 400 years, but the second volume has him celebrating his 500th death-day party. As far as I know, this error still exists in the U.S. versions. Error number two: In the first printing of "The Goblet of Fire," Rowling has the shade of Harry's father coming out of the wand before the shade of his mother, when they are supposed to come out in reverse order of their deaths (i.e. his mother first as the most recently killed, then his father.) In later printings, this has been carefully rewritten so they come out in the correct order, his mother first, then his father.

One of my favorite authors, Caroline B. Cooney, in the book "The Voice on the Radio," (one of my favorite books) had her character saying that he had never used the last names when he broadcast on the radio. But, if you go back and look at all his broadcasts, he does use both last names (Janey Johnson, and Jenny Spring) in different places. This was the author's mistake because if the character had actually used the last names then any of the other characters listening to the radio could have looked up the whole story on the internet, or in the news.

So I got to thinking that every book, or every author, should have a web site available for readers to be able to notify the author when they find an error in a book.

So, if you find an error, please let me know by commenting on this thread.

Logan

2009 NaNoWriMo is over --- and I failed

Or, more precisely, I didn't try hard enough to make it to 50,000 words. I only made it to about 25,000 words. I was greatly encouraged by the NaNo note of encouragement from Kristin Cashore, however. She said that she doesn't think she ever wrote 50,000 words in less than 5 months. So, if I can finish this up in the next 30 days, I'll be doing well.

The interesting thing about that is, I had been to the bookstore that same day, and saw two of her novels for sale. They intrigued me, so I put them on hold at the local library. Then, when I read my email, there she was, writing a note of encouragement to all of the NaNo participants.

Write on.

Logan

Life After Life --- Life Beyond Life

Last year's NaNoWriMo novel, Life After Life, is now on Amazon.com --- sort of. It doesn't show up unless you search for "Life After Life Logan" because there are already a couple of books out there with the same title. I say it is "sort of" on Amazon.com because what they have is a previous version of the cover, not the latest version. I am still in communication with CreateSpace over this. There are four corrections in the latest version, as well as the correct price printed on the back cover. So, when the back cover price matches the Amazon.com price then you know it is the latest version. There are two versions (regular and Large-Print) available. Actually, if you buy a copy from Amazon.com, you will receive the latest version available from CreateSpace. It is only the cover snapshot on Amazon that is older.

I am in the process of formatting a version for Smashwords to be formatted and distributed as an ebook.

And I should be in the process of writing the sequel, Life Beyond Life (Why that title? Because it puts the two books in alphabetical order on the shelf. It will make it easier for people to find and read them in order, without my having to put numbers in the title.)

And am I just seeing things, or is this blog theme supersaturated with PINK!? Even Meg Cabot's forums (www.megcabot.com) are not this pink. They are more purple, and she has twenty to thirty thousand girls signed up as members (and four or five guys). Oh well, I think it looks good.

Logan