Reading something after you've submitted it

Bubastes · Jan 27, 2007

Just had to vent: I re-read the short story I submitted two weeks ago and caught a paragraph with some mangled verb tenses. Luckily, it was the only paragraph that contained this problem, but I'm just kicking myself for not catching it. Two critters missed it too. Aauugh!

The Lady · Jan 27, 2007

Oh even the name of your post gave me the chills. I'm always finding something else, too late.

Oh well, guess you'll just have to hope they reject you so you can fix it before you send it out again.

KimJo · Jan 27, 2007

I submitted the first book of my YA series and discovered, three weeks later, that I'd gotten a name wrong in one chapter. Twice. I'd read those passages seven or eight times and had missed the errors every time.

That publisher rejected the book (for reasons other than the name thing, I think... LOL).

Arisa81 · Jan 27, 2007

Been there. I always notice things after the fact, even after reading it before sending it. I sometimes think we could take it word by word, as slow as can be and we'd still miss something. :Shrug:

Kudra · Jan 27, 2007

I always have one of two reactions: either I wonder, "Wow, I wrote that? I'm so freakin' awesome!" or "Wow, I wrote that? I must suck."

Pagey's_Girl · Jan 27, 2007

I just reread something I wrote a couple of years ago - it was better than I remembered, but I still found ten places in as many pages where it needed tightening up.

Silver King · Jan 27, 2007

By the time your story goes out, it should be as perfect as you can make it. Unless you receive feedback to help change the piece, maybe it's best not to read it again.

This reminds me of discussions that take place in your mind after an argument. You can always think of things you should've and could've said, but you didn't. The argument stands as is, as does the work you sent.

C.bronco · Jan 27, 2007

HA! That's me on any given day. My zeal gets the better of me as I rush to send stuff out. One day, after the pixies drop magic sprinkles from fairy-dairy land, I'll have a primo secretary who proofs all of my stuff...and then I'll win the pulitzer, and the Caldecott, and the NJ Big Game Lottery, and, and and...

Maryn · Jan 28, 2007

The first writing teacher I had said she still does this, even though her novel may be in its second or third printing. The moral is to make it as good as you possibly can, then once it's gone (submitted, sold, in print, whatever), let it go. No rereading allowed.

Maryn, who tries to follow that advice

jerrymouse · Jan 29, 2007

i find a project finishes me before i finish it. i endevour to make it great, i am happy if its good. if there are any points that need attention after that, well thats what editors are for.

Cat Scratch · Jan 29, 2007

I can top that: I read a published story of mine and found an error! It was a timeline issue that I missed in a rewrite--a character steps off a bus, but a moment later says she's been wandering around lost for a half and hour. (In the first draft I didn't show her stepping off the bus.) Whoops. Neither editor caught it, either. I feel stupid.

Bubastes · Jan 29, 2007

Cat Scratch said:
Whoops. Neither editor caught it, either. I feel stupid.

Well, think of it this way: if neither editor caught it, then the story must have been so absorbing that they read right past the goof.

That's what I'm telling myself anyway about my own faux pas, at least.

SpookyWriter · Jan 29, 2007

I've done that once or twice before. :rant:

I sent sample chapters to a few agents and went back a few days later to discover I had a couple typos in the material. It's instead of its. Stuff like that...

Sean D. Schaffer · Jan 29, 2007

I did that with the last manuscript I submitted. It was not fun finding after I submitted, all the manifold mistakes within my piece. I was embarrassed beyond comprehension.

When I submit my present work, I'm going to be pretty darned sure it's finished before I submit.

I will not make that mistake again.

Bubastes · Jan 30, 2007

Ian D. Mecantie said:
I did that with the last manuscript I submitted. It was not fun finding after I submitted, all the manifold mistakes within my piece. I was embarrassed beyond comprehension.

When I submit my present work, I'm going to be pretty darned sure it's finished before I submit.

I will not make that mistake again.

I wouldn't stress too much about it. I found a few mistakes in the last story I submitted to the same magazine. They bought it anyway. Gotta love editors. Sometimes, I have to just learn to let go. Otherwise, I can tweak something forever. This is why I can't read anything I've written after publication. I still want to tweak it!

KCathy · Jan 30, 2007

I no longer allow myself to read anything after submitting it. On the bright side, I stopped having as many problems when I gave myself a deadline of three days before I wanted to turn something in, forced my husband to check for obvious errors, and then revised one last time the day I turned it in. On the dark side, there's always something that could be better (or that I convince myself could be better) and I WILL find it. And obsess and obsess and obsess.

I did once have a magazine editor add a few sentences here and there that freaked me out a little bit because they were goofy and I couldn't remember writing them. Checking my submitted Word document was a huge relief because I didn't care if it was his fault I sounded strange. Um, is that strange?

Reading something after you've submitted it

Bubastes

bananaed

The Lady

Critical Member

KimJo

Outside the box, with the werewolves

Arisa81

Kudra

Back and on track

Pagey's_Girl

Still plays with dolls

Silver King

Megalops Erectus

C.bronco

I have plans...

Maryn

I Tried

jerrymouse

Cat Scratch

The Peacock Next Door

Bubastes

bananaed

SpookyWriter

Sean D. Schaffer

Bubastes

bananaed

KCathy

Writer when I grow up