Tumbles and Catches

I got a very intriguing e-mail in my inbox today from a retiree living in Arizona who had read Marking Time, enjoyed it, and had found four typos to correct for the next edition. That was all - he didn't include the corrections, just let me know he'd found the mistakes.

That was about the most awesome way to get notes I've ever encountered. Not "here's where you screwed up." Just "I found some, let me know if you want them." I e-mailed him back right away and he very thoughtfully provided the location numbers, percentages, and line corrections. They were tiny errors - only two, in fact, that hadn't already been corrected on the final drafts of both print and e-book (which was odd in itself considering he found four), but the extra "it" and the missing "he" are the kinds of things that garner poor reviews and make readers put down books without finishing them. Both of which draw gasps of horror from writers.

I'm currently writing my way into the heart of Tempting Fate, and it was so good to revisit Marking Time to make those corrections. It showed me that Saira's voice has matured with her experience, like mine has, and reminded me how much fun she had discovering her own abilities.

Re-opening the e-book copy also inspired me to include the thing I miss in most kindle books - the back-cover teaser. When it's been a month since I bought a kindle book, and twenty more are stacked on top, and it's time to choose which one to read next, having the teaser right behind the title page makes me ridiculously happy. Then that sparked the idea that the teaser from book one should be at the beginning of Tempting Fate, maybe even with a link. Pretty fancy, huh? Now to channel all that creativity back into writing book two...

By the way, Karen, the Awesome Parkour Moves video you tagged me in on Facebook was VERY inspiring in the (spoiler alert) Saira-and-Ringo-escape sequence I just wrote. Thank you!

And, thank you, Bob! You've made a wonderful contribution to my day, not only with your very astute catches, but also with the reminder that sometimes looking back is a necessary and fun way to run, leap and tumble forward.

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