Wednesday, January 6, 2016

MORE GRAMMATICAL CRIMES: MY CONFESSION - Flora Reigada

One click of my computer’s mouse and I was headed toward disaster.

As I put the final touches on my inspirational thriller, The Face Behind the Veil, and about to e-mail it to my publisher, I decided to change a character’s name from Joseph to Stanley.

In an instant, this global change was made throughout the 600 page, three-part document, which traces the legend of the birth veil through three generations.

That was the only alteration I made after the book underwent extensive editing. Confident it was error-free, I clicked the mouse and off it went. It wasn’t long before I received the galley proof to review and approve, so the printing process could begin.
Weary of the seven-year project and the tedious historical research that had gone into it, I almost didn’t review the galley. But something in me couldn’t let it go until I did. That must have been Providential. Imagine my surprise when I discovered how that last minute name change affected a scene where the Christmas story is told. In horror, I read the following.

"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary
was espoused to Stanley, before they came together, she was found with
child of the Holy Ghost. Then Stanley her husband, being a just man, and
not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away
privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the
Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Stanley, thou son of David,
fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost . . .. Then Stanley being raised from sleep did
as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:"

(Matthew 1:18-20, 24).

After getting over my initial shock, I made the necessary changes.

However, rather than globally, I did this the old-fashioned way, one at a time.

Flora invites you to visit her blog: http://florareigada.blogspot.com/
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Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Flora-Reigada/e/B00IQK4C5A?ref_=pe_1724030_132998060


10 comments:

  1. That's funny Flora and just goes to show that the good old fashioned way of editing is the way to go. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Hopefully, a lesson learned.
      Flora

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  2. LOL. Thanks for the laugh. So glad you caught that.

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  3. Absolutely hysterical, Fora! Stanley doesn't quite do it for me, biblically speaking!

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    1. One of my biggest blunders. I keep a file of them for future "Grammatical Crimes" blogs.
      -Flora

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  4. I've heard this story from Flora before but it still makes me laugh :)

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  5. I first showed the story to my sister-in-law, who said she would wake up at night laughing about it. I knew it had to be shared!
    -Flora

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  6. LOL. I can see it happening. Good thing you listened to that "little voice"! So often we don't and pay the price.

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  7. Amen to that!
    -Flora

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