OK, this weekend was a rough one regarding writing and publishing the blog. I literally wrote the blog at the last moment while Ardis drove home late at night from her granddaughter’s baptism. Additionally, I was tired because I did not sleep well over Saturday night while we were away.
I take pride in writing and flying. I always want to do the best I can when it comes to either endeavor. So I posted yesterday’s blog toward the end of the day and it was a blog about writing. I made it perfect, because as I said, I take pride in the writing.Then, when I woke this morning, there it was.
The email from my most ardent proofreader, Holly, who said, “Oops! Proofread before posting!”
Ahhh, drat! He found a mistake I made on a post that should never have had a mistake in it. When he sent me the email, I looked over the blog, reread it, and still did not see it. I was about to fire him off an email basically asking, “What are you talking about?”
Then I saw it.
One mistake.
A two-letter word omitted from a critical place. It was not a great mistake, but it was one I missed, and in my mind, unforgivable. Life can be rough when you are a writer–and a perfectionist.
The mistake served to illustrate exactly what I was talking about in the blog. And Holly was the one who caught me.I hate working tired. It is a poor excuse, but it is the truth. When you are tired and working hard and fast, the probability of making mistakes increases. It also becomes critical when trying to figure out where the mistake happened.
When I got the email this morning, I looked over yesterday’s blog. Carefully. Still, I did not see the mistake.
It was there, however, just waiting for someone to find it.As any publisher will tell you, it is almost impossible to catch all the mistakes before publishing. All you can do is your best.
And trust me, this is no excuse for my lapse yesterday. It is a fact that we are human and we will make mistakes. Especially when we are tired, or worse, fatigued.
I am just thankful I was writing yesterday, and not flying… It can be really bad to make a mistake as a pilot.
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© 2011 J. Clark
