Deanna Hoak

I don’t know why I look at Fox News. It’s just habit–I’m a news junkie and click on all the sites. This is one of the worst headline screw-ups I’ve seen, though.
Check out this headline: Memo Shows General Sought to Warn Bush Not to Say Pat Tillman Died From Friendly Fire.
The problem is evident in [...]

While copyediting today I found a plot inconsistency in a novel that’s been in print almost continuously since 1981, reprinted with at least four different publishers.
*does the dance* Woohoo, go me! Woohoo, go me!
;-)

I was playing WoW the other day and spotted a character named Novelist, and we had a conversation that went something like this:
Me: Hey, I’m an editor. What do you write?
Novelist: (after a long silence) Oh, nothing really. I just chose that name at random.
Uh-huh. Whatcha want to bet he was dodging a deadline? [...]

Remember I told you about that big gator right up the road? I think they got her.
It’s about a mile from my house. We have four in our pond, but they’re still small.

For the last several months I’ve been having severe ergonomic issues with my neck and shoulders, to the point where spending much time at the computer is extremely painful. I’ve read all about setting up my workstation properly, and I’ve finally decided that my problem is with the computer chairs I’ve tried–all of them are [...]

I’ve been awake for hours because I just can’t stop thinking about this poor little girl. Poor, poor baby. :-( (It’s about unbelievably horrific abuse–it might make you sleepless, too, so maybe you don’t want to click.)
Sometimes I think I should just stop reading the news. I’d rather not know about some things. We can [...]

For those of you who remember the long and frustrated post I made about attempting to verify the spelling of “La Guardia,” you’ll enjoy this story: After twenty years, Hagerstown, Maryland, has corrected the spelling of a town sign directing people to “Municpal Stadium.”
:-)

I’m behind in my web searches about copyediting, but I just came across this interesting post about my profession.
Many of the comments make me cringe, because they highlight things that copyeditors just aren’t supposed to do–I suppose there’s a reason why some authors dislike the process, though I’ve been really lucky with mine. It’s nice [...]

Okay. I’m going to be a little leery of any unexpected packages coming to me via DHL for a while. :-)
(I never did like them anyway–I’ve gotten too many manuscript packages via their delivery that were already ripped open when received.)
Still, though, that is one of the weirder stories I’ve seen in a while. :-)