It's the 1st Wednesday. Happy Insecure Writers Support Group Day. IWSG is the brainchild Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Thanks, Alex, for starting this group and keeping it going. And thanks to this month's awesome hosts: Christine Rains, Dolarah @ Book Lover, Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor, Yvonne Ventresca, and LG Keltner!
Pet Peeves
Sorry for leaving such an abrupt note (no post) last month,
but I didn’t want you all to think I forgot. July was even crazier than I
expected. (If you missed my note, our Arizona family moved in with us until
they can find a house here in West Michigan. Son, daughter-in-law, two-year-old
Toddler Girl, a Great Dane, and a Labrador Retriever.) After a couple of weeks,
our household settled into a form of normalcy. Son went off to work and has
regular days off. DIL works out of my office downstairs, Toddler Girl has a part-time
sitter, giving Hubs and I time to ourselves. She also takes three-hour naps,
during which time I usually take a nap, too. LOL
That little girl makes us laugh all the time. Besides her
antics, her expressions are so darn cute. “Thank you, welcome” came from her parents trying
to teach her manners. Or “my help you . . . peez” translates to “help me, please.” Her vocabulary increases in leaps and bounds. Her favorite words,
right now, are “phone” and “iPad” because her over-indulgent grandmother (moi?)
downloaded a couple of games on both. If I hear Elmo singing the ABCs one more
time, I’ll go crazy. I’ve learned to say the phone and iPad are taking a nap.
On the home front this month, we have good news and bad news.
The good news is they’ve found a house nearby. The bad news is they will move
at the end of this month. I know I should be happy that everyone will have their
own space, and we’ll be back to our own normal. Having a two-year-old crawl up
on my lap and snuggle in is the best feeling in the world. I loved it when the
other two grandkiddies did it, and I missed it until TG came along. I’m sure her
twin brothers (who come in November) will do it, too. When they all move, I’ll miss
those moments, even if I should enjoy the peace and quiet.
On the writing front . . . Let’s say I’m storing up ideas by
reading. I did do some writing on a YA space adventure thanks to an 8-hour road trip
picking up the older grandkids from camp. (I wrote about it on the Paranormal
Romantics blog.) Other than that, I’m barely keeping up with blog
obligations, though I gave up trying to do my Monday Morning Musing. I will get
back to writing on my two projects: the sci-fi romance THE SPY and the spin-off from my Alex O’Hara mysteries JAILBIRDS AND WEDDING BELLS.
Meanwhile, as I mentioned above, I’ve been reading. Since
this month’s question asks about our pet peeves, I can easily respond. Poor
editing drives me nuts. A common misconception is that these would be self-published
books. Au contraire. Many are from publishers. Those of us who self-publish pay
for good editing, at least I do. And I read and reread my edited manuscripts so
I don’t miss any mistakes. After all, my name is on the book. I want to be
proud of my work. But what in heaven’s name is wrong with publishers (companies
or self) that put out books with frequent misuse of punctuation or wrong
use of homonyms or spelling errors? I can understand one or two mistakes. (Despite
all the work done by my freelance editor and myself, a reader contacted me
about spelling errors in my latest book. Yikes! You can bet I fixed those promptly.) But repeated grammar/spelling
errors indicates sloppy editing. My solution? Close the book and don’t finish.
Why should I bother to read it if the author/publisher/editor didn’t care
enough to make sure it’s error-free?
How about you? What pet peeves do you have about books?
Click here to find others on the Insecure Writers Support Group Blog Hop. Or go to IWSG on Facebook to see who’s blogging today.
