I finished proofing PDFs for my Vista book at 5:47pm on New Year’s Eve. In one of the final chapters, a figure had been dropped and I hadn’t noticed until someone put it back with this caption, “Add caption and location.” I spent 20 minutes figuring out where the original citation was, the caption and whether I really wanted the figure back. It was not an important figure, but leaving it out would have required renumbering all the rest.

In the last chapter, a table had been “corrupted” (jargon for screwed up); hopefully, we’ll get that squared away. The whole book is off to the printer this week.

At the New Year’s Eve party, our hostess expressed surprise that I was content with a beer to celebrate the end of the task. It’s still sinking in and I won’t really celebrate until I have the book in my hands.

I’ll leave you with the last samples of my encounter with the most diligent proofreader. I don’t think he is wrong in all of these but may have exceeded his assignment with some. mjh

I wrote:
The blue text under the major headings in Figure 7-1 ….

Proofer wrote:
will text be printed blue in book?

[mjh: How about: “The text under the major headings in Figure 7-1, which will be blue on your screen though black on this page…”?]

I wrote:
The problem will be separating the wheat from the chaff.

Proofer wrote:
to separate

I titled a chapter:
Setup Programs

Proofer wrote:
title OK? sounds like it deals with programs named Setup … “Setting Up Programs” better?

[mjh: maybe so. Of course, setting up programs — setting programs up? — often involves a program named Setup. Moreover, the DE, TE, PE and CE didn’t suggest changing the title — or, as far as the proofer knows, each one of them did and that was rejected 4 times already.]

I wrote:
RSS support may bring millions of new users to that method of digesting Web content.

Proofer wrote:
correct word? “consuming” better?

[mjh: see Reader’s Consumption for more fun with words.]

I wrote:
Many of the Security settings offer a choice among Enable (less safe?), Disable (more strict) and Prompt.

Proofer wrote:
between

I wrote:
Click the red circular button.

Proofer wrote:
better: circular red

[mjh: what, no comma?]

I wrote:
The Now Playing screen can be used to display the album cover for the current tune, or various visualizations (this is your CPU on acid.).

Proofer wrote:
drug ref OK?

I wrote:
presently … prior

Proofer wrote:
currently … previous

The next morning, Mer awoke to say the proofer’s choice of “circular red” was more poetic. Maybe so, but is that really the reason for that suggestion — poetry?

We had an interesting time researching the subtleties of between/among. Even though between may actually have application with more than two, I think among is the right choice in this context.

Mind you, I had no quarrel with the majority of the proofer’s suggested changes, though he is an obsessive comma-inserter. I would work with this proofer again — he was relentless. As for the copy editor, her name is no longer in the credits; perhaps she washed her hands of me. mjh