It's Got to be On Purpose

I opened the local paper recently to a story about a local comic book artist, Brian Wingrove (here's his site!)

My post is not on this. It's more about the local paper in question. Now really, I have nothing but love for the publication. It's pretty informative, if small, but I still read it mornings at work and try to see what's going on in town. Even though the size has shrunk in the past years (like literally the paper is not as wide) I continue to be a reader.

But dang, they suck at proofreading. 

I think it has been getting better lately. Maybe. The writing's certainly improved, because they used to have one article writer who probably could have used a writing class. I haven't seen her name lately, but when her work appeared in the paper, a typical paraphrased quote looked like this.

"Mr. Smith said that his wife had said that her aunt said that the intruder had shown up around dinnertime."

And see, that's okay. Easy mistake, just takes a little work to correct.

It gets better.

There's also the section for letters to the editor, written of course by the community, on various topics. I will never forget the one that was printed a couple of years ago.

The letter was praising this medical facility for being so helpful and caring during a patient's last days. She'd had a terminal illness and the family was sincerely thanking the staff at this place.

According to the paper, the deceased was afflicted with lunch disease.

I must say, I have never heard of lunch disease.

Okay, you say. Typo. Sure. Someone was hungry when they typed that.

Now, Brian Wingrove's comic series is called "Intermezzo" and is a reference to the humorous content. This short article that appeared in the paper had a picture of Mr.Wingrove holding up a couple of copies of his comic, upon which is clearly printed "Intermezzo" across the top. In big letters. Yellow ones.

And sure enough, next to the picture in the paper, they talk about his Intermezza comic series.

That is not a thing.

I have therefore come to the conclusion that it's done on purpose, to add "charm" and "quirk" to the local paper.

I applied once for a proofreading position and was never called.

I like to think it's because my resume was too perfectly spelled.

I Almost Totally Forgot!

November is National Novel Writing Month.  Every year, seriously, I tell myself, "hey, I'm gonna get some good work done on my book.  Shoot, maybe I'll finish a first draft."  And guess what happens every year?

Pretty much I either just work, have homework (during college), and make cookies for Thanksgiving.

Okay, so what am I going to start today?  Besides vacuuming my kitchen and living room, I'll be committing to the first novel in the sequence I'm writing, for at least an hour each day.  I'm also going to be finishing up Raven, the third book in Abra Ebner's Feather Book Series.  Also, my regular work (copywriting) is picking up quite well, so that's exciting.  With that encouragement, I am going to dive into my work.

How, you may ask?

Pen and paper, my friends.  I write with Pilot gel pens in those black and white speckled notebooks.  Why such archaic methods?  I mean, I finally got a new shiny Dell Studio.  Why use an arguably slower way of writing?

Answer:  for me, it's a whole lot faster.

When I write something on a computer, and I am able to see print in front of me, my proofreading reflexes go nuts, and I edit everything I write that instant.  I type fast, but all the "must edit now!" feelings slow me way down.  (Seriously.  I find a typo in a paper or a book, it's like finding Waldo without even trying.  At least for me.)  Writing in my messy handwriting on a blank paper with lines is nice.  I don't have to edit it, unless I want to cross something out or add in a sentence in the margins.  I can make notes to myself for future reference when I'm copying the text into my computer.  This strange attachment to the speckled notebooks means that any purse I have must be able to hold a notebook in it.  (Yes, I do try the notebook/purse combination before buying.  Thank you for asking.)  The good news?  I've started a new notebook that is designed to be tacked onto (not literally) the notebook that contains what was originally the first part of my story. 

So that's what I'll definitely be doing this month.  If I finish by the end of the month, great.  If I don't, well then, I'll keep working at the same pace because I want to finish this project soon.  (It's been about nine years in the making.)  It has begun already, in the middle of nowhere, in a tiny village, with a rather strange occurrence.

How will you be spending National Novel Writing Month?  Feel free to discuss, and thanks for stopping by today!  Coming soon:  a review of the final installment in the Feather Book Series, the novel Raven.

Update:  I did write today, for about half an hour.  My wrist cramped, so I took a break.

I'm such a wimp.  But I did write.