Do as I Say . . . Not as I Do . . . Ple-ease (!)
A quick post today. As you may know if you read my FB posts, I finally submitted HA-HA-HA-HA (the fifth book in the Triple Threat Investigation Agency series) to Next Chapter.
Was I proud? Happy? Relieved? As Rey might say, you betcha!
Lo and behold, I went to cut and paste the epilogue of the next (sixth) book into a new Word document and what did I find?! That I’d left 10 pages of research notes and the like at the end. Groannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.
I could have sworn I’d deleted those. Where the did those suckers come from!? Great editor/proofer, huh? I couldn’t catch a major faux pas in my own book. I’m not sure whether to laugh hysterically or weep profusely.
I’m slapping myself mentally for having been so dim-witted. Like really?
And that leads me to the message of this post. Proof and edit before you submit something—again and again. It will save in the embarrassment department, unless you’re thick-skinned, of course, and could care less. I, however, do care . . . very much.
Be as professional as you can be, and take pride in that professionalism. Do as I say, not as I do. Groannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.
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Tyler, I am chuckling as I am reading this. Has happened to me a few times as well. When I had to submit reports to executive, I had two major goals. Reduce the words to convey the message, including recommendations, to no more than 3/4 of a page. Execs will only dedicate 2 minutes per document and obtaining their authorization without questions is real success. You know how hard it is to write less and not more in the business world. The second goal was to use proper grammar and no spelling mistakes (I group those both together). I would often ask one of my colleagues to proofread the document, or my tried and trusted method, read out loud. Nevertheless, there will always be times when you cannot catch all the mistakes, and no matter how much you "beat yourself" over any errors, you are absolutely correct when you say...."be as professional as you can be, and take pride in your professionalism". We really need to get T-shirts produced with that message because the world would be a better place if everyone put those words into practice every day !
It's true - often we "see" what we "think" is there. We've lived with something for so long, we truly believe it exists. LOL Oh well. Live and learn. Take care, my dear.
