Proofreading or “Did I Write That?”

So I downloaded my manuscript to my new Kindle to read. This was way too exciting for me. I mean, come on. My book is on my Kindle! Which part of that isn’t exciting?

I packed up my lunch and some sunscreen—I burn easily, so this is important—and headed off to the beach to read. It really was cool to just read my manuscript like a book from cover to cover. I wanted to make notes here and there, but I restrained myself. Even though I wrote most of my manuscript by hand (Yes, at the very end I gave in and started writing on the computer. Hmmm…who knew I could write so much faster if I didn’t first hand write then type?), and then put the previous day’s writing on the computer. I did very little editing and no rewriting as I typed. I just got it all into the computer, so it’s a raw rough draft.

The first two chapters moved along just fine, but there are definitely errors and places to expand. The next couple of chapters are better, but the last few chapters finish up the strongest. I knew my characters better and both the story and my writing evolved. And who knows, maybe writing on the computer had something to do with it. (I will deny this at a later date.)

So my husband reads every word that I write as it bleeds from my pen—or begrudgingly now from the computer—and he does make notes on the hard copy for me to use later. I was a little surprised at what neither of us caught. Oh, there were some silly mistakes, like spelling my heroine’s name wrong in several places. But heck, my name is Tari, pronounced like Terri, and I’ve spelled my own name wrong at times. (Don’t ask me how, but it’s true…and I blame my mother. Clearly she didn’t know how to spell it in the first place. She doesn’t like it when I say this. She says she did it on purpose because it was special!)

Anyway, back to my book. There are more than a couple of errors, but the one that made me laugh the hardest was the following scene where the heroine who is petite (Hmmm…did I mention that I’m five foot two?) tries to climb into the hero’s truck:

“She carefully held her skirt in place while she reached into the truck with one hand and put the other hand on the door, trying to lift her weight up into the cab.”

Now when I read this, I think Randi (Did I spell that right? Phew, definitely Randi with an “I”) has to have at least three hands to hold her skirt in place with one, reach into the cab with one and hold the door frame with the other. I don’t know. It just didn’t work for me. I figured I really didn’t need to make a note of that one, I’ll catch it as I rewrite for sure.

So, yesterday I did errands—no writing—but today I’m headed back to my desk with my red pen in hand. I’m ready to strengthen those opening chapters, find those glaring mistakes and add a little more heat to the story.

A note to my mother: I love the way you spelled my name…

A note to my sons: I’m not sure which one of you I should apologize to for their name, my oldest, Gerrod (Jared), and middle son, Jayson (no explanation needed), or the youngest, Joey (Joseph), who was named after his grandfather, so I wanted it to be spelled just as my father-in-law’s name was spelled. I just want you to know that you are all special to me.

Back to work for me, but what about you? Have you found errors in your writing that made you laugh out loud? Anything you’d like to share? Come on. Make me feel better. I know I’m not the only one…am I? (Did I mention that my book is on my Kindle?)