Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Me And My Typeaus

Faux French spelling aside--I did it on purpose--I routinely find typos and editing jewels in my blog posts.

I’m sorry.

I do the best I can. I can reasonably conclude from recent history that my best is woefully inadequate. For example, a recent post contained the gem “tipped his hat to me other . . ." While it does offer a lovely Irish-esque lilt, it makes no sense.

At least I do eventually find them. When I do I go in and make the correction. Can’t help myself. Even if no one will every see it again I feel the need to make it right.
It’s my writing. It’s got my name on it. If I am going to make wild allegations about the Web that I am a writer, then I should make the copy as clean as I can.
I’d like to find someone or something to blame but I can’t. It’s all me.

Oh, sure, I had laser eye surgery seven years ago and that’s certainly a . . .well it definitely plays a . . . no, I can’t blame my eyesight or the weather or lack of chocolate or an improper chew toy regimen. I simply think that everything is as it should be when I post.

Later I find out that I am once again wrong.

Sigh.

All I can do is my best and hope I catch every slip of the finger later on.
If I don’t, then any chance we can write it off as part of my charm?

7 comments:

Crabby McSlacker said...

Same problem. And I know from writing longer fiction that I can read the same page 50 times and not see a typo, so I figure that's not going to change.

I'm not sure how re-posting affects people using feed readers--does the old post pop up again when it's republished? I don't generally use a reader so I don't know. But the idea makes me nervous so I usually just leave typos unless they're really egregious.

I'd love to go back one day and add new labels to old posts. I hate it when I add a new label and realize that there are several old posts that fit the new category. Maybe one day I'll have a little republication festival and go through them all!

Dawn said...

Aah, Leah, I do understand. In fact, I'm sure everone out here in blogland has this problem - other than the few who just don't realise they've made mistakes!

I have the same problem as Crabby too wherein I haven't given enough thought to my tags in the early posts.

So yes, I for one, am absolutely prepared to called any typos part of your charm. You little charmer, you!

Leah J. Utas said...

I have no idea how reposting affects feed readers. It's beyond me.
Happy Republication Festival, Crabby.

Thanks, Dawn. I guess it's best that we do realize we make mistakes.

Talia said...

You do have to be careful with feedreaders. If your feed is via feedburner it can create havoc as it sometimes reposts with the current date.

But if it is just the google atom/xml feed you should be fine.

Typos can be charming, but when you are calling yourself a writer then excessive typos can create a bad impression...

Michael said...

Hmm...yes, but it happens, and quite often. And they can be so aggravatingly hard to find! Still, if I do catch them, I can't help but to go in and fix them either, and for pretty much the same reason.

Besides, I only claim to be writer, not a typist!

Crabby McSlacker said...

Talia, thanks for the warning! I do use feedburner, so I'll have to be careful about that.

And I just realized how much "Republication" looks like "Republican." I just want to make it clear I'm not planning any Republican Festivals!

Leah J. Utas said...

Oh I don't know, Crabby. I think a Republican Festival planned by you would be a great deal of fun.

Thanks for the info, Talia. I didn't have a clue.

Me too, Michael. And I'm a lousy typist at that.