THE ERROR ON PAGE SIX AND THE FIX

Can you find the error?

The Rose and the Lily - The Error On Page Six and the Fix

Everyone knows that editing and proof-reading are of prime importance when writing a book.

So what happens when you correct an error but the computer fails to keep the correction? Worse yet, when you are proof-reading the final proof you skim over that section because you know that it was corrected (BIG MISTAKE!!!).

Read the attached page. Can you find the error?

Did you find it? If not, you are not alone. Only one in ten people I showed it to found the error.

The Rose and the Lily was my work of art. It is a fairy tale that I hoped would one day become a classic. It was finished. Everyone said it was perfect.

I sent copies out to all the people who had helped me with the book. That’s when, horror of horrors, one of those people who had helped edit the book wrote me and said, “There’s an error.”

“That’s a joke, right?” I responded.

“Nope.”

“But I fixed it!”

“Nope.”

“OMG!” I cried. “What am I going to do?”

“Leave it. No one else noticed,” he suggested. And he’s right. No one else had noticed the error.

But it wasn’t a typo. It was a grammatical error … in a children’s book. I could not in good conscience leave it. So what to do? I’d already had a slew of books printed.

I ranted, I raved, (my husband hid), and then the solution came to me. I’d make the error part of the story.

So the poem “The Error on Page Six and the Fix” was created. Stickers were printed and put in every … single … book.

It was brilliant! So brilliant that my best friend of 50+ years said, “Who wrote the poem?” Hmmm.

Lightning Source prints and distributes my books. First, I corrected the error. Then I changed my mind. The poem taught an important spelling lesson. So I put the error back in the book and added the poem.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on The Rose and the Lily.

Here is the poem that incorporates the error into the story.