Proof

On Tuesday, I came home to find a chit advising that a parcel had been left with our neighbours.  It was either the maincrop potatoes for this year, or the proof copies of the paperback of 'Limited Capability'.  It was indeed four copies of 'LC'; with the book of the serial weighing in at 577 pages, the taters would probably have been lighter!

I still remember the strange thrill back in January 2013 of opening a neat parcel and finding within two paperbacks with the title 'Severe Discomfort' and my name on the front.  They were the original proof copies of my first book, hot off the press!  I was pleasantly surprised with the quality, that the cover design (home-made) seemed to work and that there were 300 pages of real words inside, all written by me.  Aided and abetted by a trusted friend who had rashly agreed to proof read a copy for me, I slowly worked through the glitches.  Correcting the indentation, which was too deep; culling the excess commas - though with hindsight, I should have taken an equally tough line on the exclamation marks.  Adding the odd sentence, taking out a word here and there, re-ordering a line or two.  Between us, Anna and I caught most of the typos, though a couple slipped through the net. 

The calculation error in Lyn and Terry's benefits escaped detection for months, despite the book being read by both friends and strangers from a benefits background, until my colleague Tina reminded me of the 'Enhanced Disability Premium'.  Sadly, by that stage the book was in general circulation and it would have been prohibitively expensive to correct it.  So we'll have to leave it that the DWP miscalculated and diddled the Walkers out of about £15 per week (that sort of thing does happen, you know).  I thought I had done a more thorough job on the original manuscript of 'Continual Supervision', but when the two proof copies arrived with the spring in their tidy cardboard box with that delicious new book smell, in no time at all I was spotting hiccups, and sure enough a sheet of further corrections arrived from Hampshire in due course.

So I hold out little hope of 'LC' being trouble free.  I've already promised I'll take a tough line on those exclamation marks, and having read the first couple of chapters I really must spare a blameless character's blushes and correct his (my!) miscalculation of ESA at the 'support group' rate for 2011/12.  There's also something peculiar happening with the apostrophes on the back cover 'blurb' (which I recall being a problem with the first proof of 'Severe Discomfort') so I'll probably rewrite it to take them out, as a glitchy cover lets a book down badly.  I may need to adjust the font or print size to make the blurb more legible - or adjust the picture behind it.  The colour scheme has turned out a more browny-red than I intended too, but it still works so I may leave that as it is.

Whatever I do, I mustn't rush and overlook corrections, but I mustn't dawdle either.  Last year, I missed the chance to launch 'Severe Discomfort' during the Eastleigh by-election, when Lyn and Terry's home town was suddenly centre stage of UK politics.  In June, my adopted home of Stoke-on-Trent is holding a literary festival, but stories about it in the local paper have largely failed to generate debate and comment in the way that, say, court reports about people accused of benefit fraud tend to.

I may just have had a cunning plan..!