My erotic romantic comedy novels will be released under my Daisy Dexter Dobbs pen name (which I’ve been using for many years) while the traditional (non-erotic) romance books will be released under my newer Susan Bodendo pen name.
I have a reputation within the publishing industry for turning in clean manuscripts, meaning little editing or correction is needed. I go through each manuscript several times before submitting, tweaking and checking for errors. Unlike many authors, I actually enjoy the editing process because I want to do all I can to make my work shine--to ensure it’s as perfect as I can possibly make it. The last thing I want is for readers to be pulled out of one of my stories because of some glaring error. Of course, errors still occur...and this post is about a doozy.
My eyes bugged and I gasped.
Right there in the middle of this emotion-filled scene there was a typo. I inadvertently called the hero’s most virile body part a "sock" instead of a...well, you know…
It wasn’t caught by me, or by my editor, or by the final line editor--and the book was published that way. Oh. My. God! The typo makes the line unintentionally uproarious because of what’s happening. Let’s just say there was...um...well, saliva was involved.
My gleeful guffawing at the absurd hilarity of the situation soon morphed into an ugly cry, rife with self-pity, humiliation, and well-deserved, albeit mumbled, chastisements.
To the best of my knowledge, the ridiculous blunder was never publicly mentioned by readers or reviewers. Maybe no one ever noticed! But what if they all saw it? And talked about it. And made fun of it. And made fun of me! And decided never to purchase another one of my books again, EVER! Oh my God, how mortifying! How awful! How terrible! How...ahahahahaha! How hilarious! No, shameful and embarrassing! Horrifying! Hehehehehe! But funny as hell! Ahahaha...waaaaaah!!!!
That was way too much emotion before I even had a chance to finish my first cup of coffee.
For obvious reasons I won’t tell you which book it was, so don’t even ask. Although it’s out of print, there are still copies floating around. Since this scene is far too good to toss, I’ll be using a rewritten version of it in another book--but you can damn well believe there will be no mention of hosiery of any sort!
--Super Earthling…roger wilco, over and out
Ha ha that is so funny now I have this very strange image stuck in my head. Covered foot fetish maybe?
ReplyDeleteWay too funny!!
ReplyDeleteI am way impressed by your ability to find your own errors in your writing. I find that after I have read something I wrote a few times, my eye "reads" what I think I wrote rather than what is actually there. If I have the time and the need, I will allow a few days and read it again and find more mistakes I missed, but I never seem to find it all. And I am talking about a short piece. You are talking about full books!! Very very impressed.
I enjoy your posts ever though I don't always comment.
Hehehehe!!! Oh that self-editing can be evil. Not editing your own work, but the thing that happens when you read a glaring error in your own writing but your mind corrects it and you skip along, blithely assured that what you turned in was picture perfect until some gap of time passes and WHAM!!
ReplyDeleteAnd that sock picture caused Diet Coke to come out my nose. You're welcome ;)
It would probably make more sense if the book takes place in some stinking trailerpark and the guy can't afford condoms, so he regularly puts a sock on his cock LOL :D
ReplyDeleteHa! That's a good one! The abilitiy to laugh of one's own mistakes makes it easier to get over life's little dumps... oops. I mean bumps!
ReplyDeleteLOL that is hilarious! Now I want an autographed copy of the book with the mistake in it xD.
ReplyDeleteWOW, I feel sorry for the poor female character who had a sock in her mouth. Socks can be really dirty and nasty ya know. LOL!!!
ReplyDeleteHaha, I laughed while reading this; thank you, it was much needed!
ReplyDeleteI understand your 'love' for editing, who doesn't want their work to shine as much as it can? It's almost like a painter doing only the first layer of paint, then saying, 'I could add a sunrise, but, I guess the water will do fine on it's on.' While really - it's just a blue painted canvas.
Your roller-coaster ride through emotions were hilariously put, and, I can understand the mortification of discovering something like that. It's likely that very few people have noticed. Retired knitter is right, sometimes the eyes read what we think should be there; and sock and..you know, is not that far apart - spelling wise.
I love your posts, they always cheer me up. Thank you!
I can only see my writing mistakes if at least a year has lapsed between writing and reading... It seems my brain autocorrects otherwise.
ReplyDeleteAnd really? From now on, I am always replacing a certain word with "sock" when the book I am reading has a sex scene that takes away from the story. There is a place for smutty awesome, but I think some authors just toss in some gratuitous sex without thinking about story flow. At least I can enjoy the hilarity of picturing his giant sock...
I like it when women respond the way I would of! lol
ReplyDeleteWell, you've certainly "laid" to rest that old theory about how we only read the first and last letters of a word, and fill in the rest from consext - er, I mean CONTEXT! Good grief, woman, even your typos are epic!
ReplyDeleteThat's awful.
ReplyDeleteYou know, it's not n the same level as having it happen in a published work, but I have been going through the same thing with my old blogs.
I used to blog elsewhere - and it was MUCH more widely read than my current page. But I have been saving my old posts lately, cutting and pasting into Word format for posterity. (In case the internet thing turns out to be a fad and shuts down?)
And I'm finding occasional typos! Some are significant!
And it infuriates me - especially where I know LOTS of people read it. It makes me angry at the readers: Why didn't anyone TELL me? Someone has to have seen it!
I should be mad at myself, but I end up being mad at everyone else...
Those readers can go and suck my sock.
*giggggggggggggles* Well if it was one of the ones I've read then I didn't notice it either!
ReplyDeleteI self edit my blogs over and over.. yet I still see typos... thankfully none that funny:) Thanks for sharing:)
ReplyDeleteThat was the funniest thing I had read in a while. I am sure I would have caught it if I had read the book since I just seem to be wired that way...but that was funny. Nice thing is most people's minds fill in the right words even when the wrong one is stsaring them in the face. And it must speak to how good the sex scene was for no one to have every caught it! Still funny...
ReplyDeleteI agree with some previous commenters - it's so hard to catch your own typos! Sometimes Boyfriend has to point out mine for me on the blog when they're especially heinous and I didn't notice.
ReplyDeleteThere is an old saying in the UK when someone goes on and on and on 'Put a sock in it' not sure if it is used in the USA. But it may now take on a new meaning.
ReplyDeleteI gave up trying to get my typing right ages ago, I blame the qwerty keyboard.....
I'm neurotic in the editing department, so I understand that a near melt-down is possible on seeing an error like that in print. I'm thinking very few people would have noticed since it's in a steamy scene and they expected a c instead of an s. :)
ReplyDeleteI've heard of rug burns during sex, but sock burns? Very funny post. Loved it.
ReplyDeleteOmg! I'm dying! That's awesome on so many levels. I would totally buy more books for a typo like that.
ReplyDeleteLOL! Next time someone is being a jerk to me I'm going to scream, "suck my sock!"
ReplyDeleteHoly sock-a-doodle-do!
ReplyDeleteI am not sure what's made me spew tea more...the typo itself, or your hilarious drawing! LOL
(and um, no typo there....I am actually drinking tea.)
Oops! Major sock up!
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many people along the way did notice...and said nothing, secretly hoping it would make its way into the published version. Just sayin'
Oh how I missed you....this was superb and I am such a fan of sock sucking that I would have not fluttered an eye lash LOL Hey maybe you embarked into a secret fetish without even realizing it ???? So glad to have some of your great posts to read did I already say how much I missed you?? YEP it is true I did!!
ReplyDeleteWas it a dirty sock? That would be even funnier. It's difficult to catch absolutely everything, and I've read plenty of books that have glaring errors.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie Junebug
Oh dear. I am sooo sympathetic. But laughing rather a lot as well. And shuddering too. Saliva and a sock? Eeeeuh.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post as always. Thank you. And thank you even more for being brave enough to tell us...
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Thats hysterical! Thanks for sharing.. My first laugh of the morning.
ReplyDeleteLOL. this is too funny. that mistake let to this post.
ReplyDelete:)
Don't worry Susan, I don't know anyone who would suck their boyfriend's sock and so it wouldn't be read that way. I certainly wouldn't suck my husband's sock...Actually maybe it could be taken that way. I guess if a certain type of person got really horny and were just a little strange they might suck a sock...but then some might be wondering if in fact you the author sucks socks when you get excited...
ReplyDeletePS Hahahaha really funny by the way. Thanks for the giggle.
ReplyDeleteHahahahaha!! That last picture made my eyes go funny! :P x
ReplyDeleteMade my eyes go funny too, lol. But that sucks about the "sock" but you're right, it's pretty funny at the same time!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry but I couldn't stop laughing over this one!! I know as a writer it seems like a HORRIBLE thing when you see a typo, but I believe that when the reader was so totally engrossed in the sex scene, they probably never noticed the funny word...or they just thought it was a new form of kinky sex. Either way it worked to your advantage--you got a blog post out of it!!!
ReplyDeleteOh my god I love that picture with four of you. And I am trying to balance all these different personas and it is confusing and you inspire me and remind me that it can be done. Typo shmypo, socks are sexy. Wait, no, they're really not ;) Ah well I'm sure everyone who noticed (and really, who noticed if it is in a climax of a scene) blamed the editor, not you ;)
ReplyDeleteSometimes its hard to resist hosiery.
ReplyDeleteWell, that explains a lot about my sex life.
ReplyDeleteSo funny! I see typos in books all the time. It's so much harder to see in your own stuff. Love the cartoon of the typo...
ReplyDeleteI can't believe no one noticed the SOCK typo for years! I can only imagine your sheer horror! But at least you made it SOUND funny!
ReplyDeleteI think that should be a new phrase! She sucked his sock. She sucked his sock off! *Hee hee giggle snort* Yeah I might have to start using that one.
ReplyDeleteI'm dying laughing over here. Maybe they thought you did it on purpose? Like...you were trying to get a new word to catch on? Hahaha!
ReplyDeleteSusan, you are so humble and honest. This makes you so lovable. Don't ever change! :)
ReplyDeletePoor Super Earthling - but at least your super handsome hero, full of enticing qualities, would definitely have had a clean sock ;D)
ReplyDeleteSometimes mistakes can end up funny.
ReplyDeleteyvonne
I'm sure no one noticed. I would have missed it too without the illustration. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'm sure anyone who noticed just thought it was some really kinky foot fetish thing, but I can well imagine you're angst. Love the drawing. :)
ReplyDeleteA mistake that was funny. Win-win?
ReplyDelete-Barb the French Bean