Typos happen. Whether they’re grammatical errors, missing or misspelled words, typos are the bane of every writer’s existence. That’s not an over-statement.
Part of the path to publishing is hiring a professional proofreader to catch those errors. But even before that step, an editor reviews and edits the manuscript for character development, copy flow, point-of-view and a host of other elements with an eye to the big picture. Then it’s the proofreader’s turn to minutely examine the manuscript for grammar, spelling, punctuation, syntax, formatting and typographical errors.
No writer should proofread his or her own copy. We “fill in the blank” (missing words) and may not be adept at grammar and style questions (Oxford comma, anyone?).
When I came upon this news story, I was thankful that my writing is not carved in stone, bigger than life on the wall of the new, 700,000-square-foot Long Island Railroad terminal in New York’s Grand Central Station. The typo occurs in a 1928 quote from famed artist Georgia O’Keeffe: “One can’t paint New York as it is but rather as it is felt.”
O’Keeffe’s name is misspelled — one “f” instead of two.
Oh, the pain. The misery. The embarrassment. But, typos happen. The news report does not include remedies for this gaffe (with two “f”s).
This is a shoutout to all the editors and proofreaders who make writers look good. Thank you.