Zanski: Blog

I have asked a couple editors to review my posted stories for typos and other errors, as there seem to be a surprising number of them. It boggles the mind.

There have also been a few correspondents who have been kind enough to write -- again and again -- to point out my errors. As if my self-esteem wasn't in the toilet to begin with.

But I am making corrections to my working files as the notes come in. Truly egregious errors, like switching character names, I try to fix right away with an update submission. Obvious typos and other annoying but non-critical errors I accumulate pending a sufficient quantity to add a re-post to Lazeeze's work queue. I had been reposting individual chapters myself, until I learned that much of the formatting was lost by that method.

And I'm back to writing what I may call the Seneca Series. It begins in the last year of the Civil War with an eighteen-year-old farm boy from Defiance, Ohio. He's one quarter Onödowáʼga -- Seneca, a tribe of the fabled Iroquois Confederacy. But even that quarter portion of native ancestry has a profound effect of his experiences in The War. And after. But those stories are at least a year off -- lord willin' an' the cricks don't razz.

I just finished reading the final chapter of Coldwater Keys as posted on SOL. I put more time and effort into proofing that story than I have any of the others. Yet even the final chapter, which I went over an additional time, remains rife with typos, duplicate words, correctly-spelled odd-word typos, and similar niggling errors. I am aware that proofing is a tough job and especially difficult for the author because he or she has a tendency to read what's supposed to be there rather than what is there. But, come on, that last chapter is lousy with dropped jots and duplicate tittles, and I fancy myself a fuss-budget.

Maybe it's time for the cataract surgery.

Even so, I have to wonder why these errors seem to stand out on the SOL page when I missed them on my work page. Until I figure it out, please accept my apologies for the rough road I've left behind.

UPDATE: I've posted an editor request in the Authors/Editors section.

For those of technical curiosity, my LibreOffice Writer work page settings are: Calibri regular, 12 pt, 1.5 lines, view zoomed to 180%, have tried both b/w and w/b, but I find the red squiggly error underlines are easier to spot against a white background. My SOL reading page is Verdana, black on light gray. I used to work in Verdana, but I like Calibri a bit more. However, I intend to switch to match my SOL settings on my current LO-Writer working document.

I decided to eliminate the space alien-time travel ending and go for something a little more traditional.

Actually, I got to cogitatin' about the rather abrupt finish to the story and decided to flesh it out a bit. It still winds down fairly quickly, but now there's a little meat to gnaw off the bones.

I only just submitted it to the queue, so watch for the posted revision date.

I just now submitted Coldwater Keys to the posting queue. It is the second book in the Coldwater County Series. Further development of this series is possible, but it would be, literally literally, years off.

My next project is another western series, of three books, only one of which is complete and the second about 35%, so my offerings to the denizens of SOL are about to be suspended, for at least a year.

There are those who suggested a chapter-by-chapter posting of my stories over an extended period, but that approach always annoyed me as a reader, mostly because of my apparent short-term memory deficits which required me to re-read the entire story every time a new chapter was posted. Go figure.

Instead, I'd bookmark (in Chrome) the author's page under the heading "Check back" and I'd look it up everey few months to see what's done.

Anyway, them's the reality of is what is for now.

But beyond all that, I have to admit to being genuinely moved by the encouraging and complimentary comments I've received. That was unexpected. I'm very grateful.

Coldwater Junction is in the posting queue. It is the first of the two-book Coldwater County Series. Both the setting and tone are very different from the Arenoso Trails Series. You've been warned; I don't want to hear a bunch of whining.