So I was going through a manuscript today…previously published. I am oddly confident in what I publish. I am aware that every book – even the ones published by the big publishers – often still have typos and other minor issues. There was only 2 minor typos. I was quite impressed. Now that being said…I wonder how many times I have missed errors. I employ a multiple eyes on a project policy. This means that the anthologies that Fae corps publishing puts together are edited by myself, and then I ask the authors to go through and let me know any mistakes I missed. Especially from their own story. I ask for them to read the whole thing and point out anything missed in the entire anthology. Because in the end I want to publish something that each author is proud of.
The perfectionist in me though edits it, then runs it through grammarly, then triple checks for anything that I may have missed. I feel like I have to be better because I am a small press. I am embarrassed by any mistakes that come with publishing. So, I try to get it right the first time.
I took a writing class and I was extremely embarrassed by the way it was done. There was a hot seat session. I handed, for my turn, an unedited version of a work in progress. The person who was running the class proceeded to tear into what was wrong. I hope that no one has to deal with that. I had not adjusted the layout and had things that I knew needed fixed because I wanted to see what the teacher would do. She made such a big deal about the minor things that I felt like I was doing awful. It was something that could have made me walk away from writing. I was irritated by the way I was feeling. Instead, I decided that I would learn to do it better. I would never send my work out to be edited without it being edited by me first.
When you judge people you have no idea what you are doing to them. You could end up being the reason why they give up. Or you could be the reason why they knuckle down and improve. The only person who can possibly know what they are going to do is the one you are judging.
okay, I am done random rambling. What do you feel like has to be perfect? why?
Pattimouse 
Reblogged this on cabbagesandkings524 and commented:
Pattimouse – Judging Perfection
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know the feeling. I’m always checking and rechecking, and in the process I’ve done research and learned many grammar rules that I don’t recall ever learning about in school. So in a way there is a plus side in that it shows I’m human like any other writer (even before the age of computers and typewriters, errors are known to have still gotten through), and it gives me chances to grow and learn. Nevertheless, it gets to me, too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We are meant to learn something new every day. I feel like for some of us it’s harder to adapt to the idea that we don’t know everything. Hence the way the perfectionist urges can take ahold.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well said.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Catching our own mistakes, is what we all, sometimes get, too, hung up on, and sometimes, you just, have to, keep going, and, not look back.
LikeLiked by 1 person