Now, I have to make a confession regarding a big mistake in one of my books. I though long and hard about this but I often post writer's typos on Facebook so I thought I'd share this, too. I made a big boo-boo in a book that came out last year. A reader who actually won the book here on our blog pointed it out to me. Writers do research and we proof and we edit and sometimes in spite of that and several editors and proofreaders helping us, we still make mistakes.
Let me explain. If you have a copy of my "In Pursuit of a Princess" you might know what I'm talking about. It involves getting two words mixed up. I did research on one of my favorite subjects-the Acadians who left Canada and came down to Louisiana. Today, we know them as Cajuns but they had to leave Canada in the 17th century and start a new life due to an expulsion by the British. I have researched and studied this topic for other books so I know the history. But somewhere in my research for this book I came on a form of painting and thought I'd also use that in the book. And this is where it gets confusing. The painting method is Arcadian. ARcadian. Which I only use in the book once to explain how a painter used a dream like theme in his paintings to showcase the Acadians in Louisiana. Only Arcadian got mixed up with Acadian and well, I didn't catch it and neither did anyone else. So I called the Acadian people the Arcadian people several times in the book. What???
Once my nice reader pointed this out, the book was already in print. And even though no one else has come forward stating the mistake, it has weighed on me for months now. So confession is good for the soul and saying I'm sorry will make me feel ever so much better. One little letter, that dreadful "R", messed me up and I just kept right on writing and never saw it.
Why am I telling everyone this. Well, I have a new book out this month. So the first person to find the mistake in "In Pursuit of a Princess" and tell me how many times I used the wrong word for the right people will win a copy of "Deadly Holiday Reunion." That won't make up for my big boo-boo but it will be fun to see if anyone has a copy of "In Pursuit of a Princess" and can tell me the answer. And the other reason I wanted to post this--Has anyone else ever done this? Do any of you have stories regarding mistakes in your books? I surely can't be the only one, right???
Posts
