Aaarrrgh!  I Found Mistakes in My Recently Published Book!

Maybe “Aaarrrgh!” is too strong of a word. “Ugh!” might be better, especially since I knew this was going to happen. I was hoping it wouldn’t, but I figured it would.  Supposedly, it happens to every self-published author. 

Anyway, I’ve been flipping through my ONE novel, The Sunset Rises: A 1990s Romantic Comedy , which I self-published a couple weeks ago, and I’ve found several little errors.

I’m kind of annoyed because I spent a lot of time looking closely at my writing before I published my book.  I even hired an editor, and the editor missed a few things.  I can’t blame the editor, though, because I’m a retired English teacher, and I’m supposed to know what I’m doing when it comes to editing.

In my defense, the errors that I’ve spotted might not be considered a big deal.  I haven’t spotted any misspellings.  I haven’t noticed any missing words or weird inconsistencies with the formatting.

Here’s what I’ve noticed… so far!

• Two missing commas (not on the same page), both when there are paired adjectives that can be reversed. 

• Misusage of an uncommon word (but not so uncommon that a reader would think of it as uncommon).

• A couple incorrect past-perfect tense uses.  Professional writers misuse past-perfect tense all the time, though.  I think some authors don’t even know what past-perfect tense is. 

I’m a little embarrassed by the mistakes because the narrator is a grammar-obsessed English teacher, and here he goes making mistakes that he would mentally criticize others for making.  Then again, the main character is kind of a prick sometimes, so maybe this will be a humbling experience for him.

I’ll be honest: it hurts my ego too.  I promise that I’m not as grammar-obsessed as my main character, and I really hope that I’m not as much of a prick as he is, but I guess I’ll never really know.  I don’t get to decide whether or not I’m a prick, and people who know me probably wouldn’t tell me if I am one.

Just so you know, online comments telling me that I’m a prick don’t count.

So, here’s my ONE novel.  Overall, I’m okay with it, except for a couple missing commas, a couple past-perfect verb tense errors, and a slightly incorrect use of a word.  At least, that’s all I’ve found so far.

*****

A grammar-obsessed English teacher falls in ‘luuuvvv’ but discovers how chaotic and dangerous ‘luuuvvv’ can really be.

The Sunset Rises: A 1990s Romantic Comedy is now available on Amazon !

Or you can get a signed copy directly from me!