How good a proofreader am I?

I’ve been asking myself that question all week, ever since my new best friend, the FedEx man, dropped off my latest package from Kensington books: the galley proofs for my July debut novel, TROUBLE.

The idea behind galleys, as I understand it, is to catch all those little bitty, itsy bitsy typos that have thus far escaped me, my agent, my editor, and my copy editor. This is not the time to rewrite the book, although I’m sorely tempted because it’s been about eighteen months since I’ve tweaked it, I’ve learned a lot since then, and I think I could do a better job if I gave it a major overhaul. Nor is it the time for major changes, so, if I made a mistake on, say, legal research, I’ll just have to suck it up and live with it. At this late stage of the game, I’m allowed to change “in” to “on”, or to add a missing “the”, or to catch misspellings.

No sweat, you say? Not so fast.

I’m detail-oriented, and a good proofreader. How hard could it be to catch little errors?

Really hard, and I’ll tell you why. I’ve been reading and writing this story since late 2001. I know it inside and out. My eyes and brain self-correct whatever mistakes may be there on the page. Worse, this story has worn me out. Every time I see the names Mike and Dara, my eyes glaze over. How much more blood, sweat and tears do those two characters want from me?

Still, I’m working really hard on the galleys and giving it my best shot. Why? Because, as always, I want to do the best job I can. And it’ll drive me crazy for YEARS to come if I let a typo slip by me.

I have about 150 pages left to proof, and I hope my eyesight holds out. Wish me luck. And for goodness sake, if you buy TROUBLE and discover a typo—DON’T TELL ME. I beg you.