Critiquer's Confession

You caught me. That is, if you read my last two blogs. You can tell I read only the photo caption, not the article. Obviously I didn't really study the photo, either.

Somehow, in the far reaches of my ancient mind the last name, Tyler, rang a bell as some female sport's standout--same alma mater. But maybe those initials (C.J.) crept in unbidden from the book I was reading at the time. I've since counted ten C.J.s in the print of a mere one and one third pages! And protagonist C.J. was a female.

My guess is the newspaper people have made up for their original gaffe by giving HIM another shot (that's shOt) with a BIG full color face-front photo captioned "HEAD OF THE CLASS." Without even reading the article I can see it's a guy. And my conscience is clear. End of this story.

Inappropriate Language

Well, that's one way to put it. and I'll always wonder who brought it to the newspaper staff's attention. My guess would be that the young golfer or her mother got on the phone and let the paper people know that she wouldn't be clipping that photo for her album anytime soon. A much smaller version of the same photo appeared today with this caption: "Shikellamy's C.J.Taylor
hits a drive off the tee at the Susquehanna Valley Country Club on Thursday. An editing mistake in Friday's edition placed inappropriate language in the photo caption."

Let this be a lesson to your fingers, folks. The letters i and o sit companionably side-by-side on your keyboard, but they are not interchangable. In this case, one key made an embarrassing difference.

Don't print "oops!"

Sometimes it is the writer's fault when a wrong word appears in print. But then again, where was the proof-reader or copy-editor whose job it is to catch the error? And does it really matter when it's just a small word? Will readers tend to skip over and not notice? Or will it stop them dead in their tracks with wonder? Or double them over in fits of laughter? You decide.

It all depends on point of view. In today's regional newspaper (which shall  luckily remain nameless) a large black and white photo appears featuring a golfer in action. The one-line caption under her photo did make me snicker and for that I apologize.Must have stunned the athlete who has every right to say "this really stinks." Should have made the paper people cringe and point fingers at the perpetrator whose ineptness sent this to press:

" ------------- hits a tee SH*T during . . . . ." 

Diverse Reads in Modern Format

     I have a fairly recent (hard to keep abreast of so prolific an author) Nicholas Sparks and an old Jeanette Oaks (final in one of her many series) on my i-pad 2. I loved the "book feel" of turning pages so much I've read Sparks twice. But meantime, my daughter, Marti, has filled this online "bookshelf" with shelves and shelves of old children's books. Some sounded so quaint in language style we laughed our heads off reading aloud to each other. An anonymous version of  The Three Bears was amusing and one we'd never read. The illustrations, alone, dated it to at least back to my childhood or earlier. In public domain, these are freebies.

    I'm thinking I need to check out the shopping cart for It Doesn't Grow on Trees. Only recently I have learned from AuthorHouse, the publisher, that they now have my Junior Chapter book available in eBook format. I love that story. Haven't even checked on the price, but I know I'll love the chapter beginnings and endings so carefully crafted--by me. And then there's that wonderful page turning feel. If anyone reading this gets to it first, please report in.

    

Putting a Period on Good Writing

     Quoting from a recently-read novel: "----------- stared at the plastic checkered tablecloth on the table."

     Duh! I say those three tagged-on words (on the table) insult the reader. Unless the writer thought we pictured a tablecloth covering a window or door. A period after tablecloth would  have sufficed.

     It is too easy for a writer on a roll to over-write--clutter phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and pages with extraneous words. Sometimes the urge (or editorial request/expectation) to meet a novel's total word-count trumps common sense.

     There are strict word-count rules for genres and age-appropriate work. Trying to  keep up with  published writers of upper middle and young adult work, I stretched and stretched till I had well over 9,000 words in a second or third draft of my book suited to third through sixth-grade readers. But then I bumped up against a pro--the author of Mrs. Wishy Washy fame, Joy Cowley.

     "A Junior Chapter book should have no more than 6,000 words," she informed me and over the week of serious editing and a couple of one-on-one mentoring sessions, 3,000 words vanished. And saving only the best, It Doesn't Grow on Trees became my latest pride and joy for children. Nothing was lost in the cutting--only made the better to hold a young reader's attention.

     The lesson I learned the hard way stuck with me and has served me well: Sometimes you just have to kill your 'darlings'."

Careless Writing or Clueless?

    What well-published writer would appreciate being labeled a third or fourth-grader? I read popular novelists, some who have 30-40 books published, and conclude they weren't paying attention in language arts--otherwise known in the old days as English class--my favorite subject from third grade on. Not only am I frustrated at how frequently I read gross grammatical errors, but I wonder why it wasn't caught or corrected before the book went to print? My choice of Larger Print makes every word stand out on the page. And I cringe. I huff and I puff in exasperation when I see (often} that the author doesn't know the difference between bring (to) and take (away). Or how to use sit and sat. Or
lie and lay. Oh, woe is me! I learned all that in third grade and I'd read with a less critical eye and way more pleasure if I didn't have to play editor. Those writing books may offer clues. But who is reading them? Not the careless writer, for sure.

Who Wrote That?

    My question in some part of the reading of Love Inspired books--way too many times in a startling number--is Where was the editor, copy-editor, proof-reader? Or was the well-published author the one who fell asleep at the wheel? I am referring to the many times I have been dumbstruck when the wrong character name is given attribution. What a jolt to read "Buck nodded!" This occurred right after a paragraph about what was written on Buck's new grave marker. And on the story's final page where the protagonist was doing the speaking and whose name was totally familiar by Page 278.
When I finished reading this novel I took the author up on her Dear Reader comment that if I had a minute, she'd love to hear from me. Her website did not appear to have been updated for years, so let's not hold our breath for a response. Will we ever know who wrote that? Stay tuned.

P.S.
Already the author of the latest novel I've read--in which a wrong attribution appears on the final page--has e-mailed back to thank me for pointing out the "very bad mistake," she called it. She hasn't even seen the book since it came out! How gracious of her to thank me for giving her a headache!