It’s really hard to hear that something you are so proud of, and put your heart and soul into, has numerous grammar issues. It also made me feel like a fool for having so much faith in our book when it clearly was full of faults. I am actually a little embarrassed to be writing this and admitting to people we made mistakes.
What gets me the most is that two people, with four post high school degrees lacked so much knowledge about the English language. Yes, neither of us were English majors, but I think it shows how a lapse in our school systems when almost 40 years of combined education failed to teach so much. With all the texting and social networking that’s out there now days it’s only going to get worse. (I’ll save that rant for another day.)
You all know what a subject, verb, adjective, comma, and a semi-colon is. You might even know what “to be” verbs are and to avoid them in writing. But do you know the difference between a hyphen, and en dash, and em dash and how to use them? Have you ever heard of a gerund? Or a participles? How about a progressive participle? Even Lara’s mom, a teacher, didn’t know that one. If you’re like us you haven’t. I’m just grateful that we are not the only ones.
The things we have to come away with are that these are mistakes we can fix—no matter how long it takes us. And that the agency said, “the story concept is interesting.” We have a good story. Correction, we have a great story. Now all we need to do is polish it.