I’d spent a year or so writing my first book, and it was coming out early in 2000. I had the first copies sent to Texas where I’d be spending Christmas. My family knew I had a book coming out, but they didn’t think they’d see it for months. I received a box Federal Express and hid it in the trunk of the car I was using. I was dying to take a look at it, but there were too many people around. Finally, I ran an errand (my Mother sent me to Wal Mart to return something) and when I got there I opened the trunk, and the box, and reached in for a copy of my book. It looked great. I’d helped design the cover and I was proud of it. Anyway, I went into the store, flipping through pages and smelling the ink. Then I got in line to return whatever it was I was returning and I started reading. My favorite lines in the book were in the last few paragraphs, a scene in which my friend Paul and I walk into the meadow at Black Butte Ranch to watch sunrise one last time before we head different directions for the summer. And that’s when I saw the type-o.
The line was supposed to read:
“We were walking into the meadow. I was walking with my hands in my pockets.”
And instead said:
“We were walking into the meadow. I was walking with my hands in his pockets.”
I actually laughed it was so funny. It’s even funnier if you try to imagine the scene playing out that way.
Anyway, all that to say, I received my first copy of Million Miles a couple days ago in the mail. The book looks great, and I’m eager to have it out there in wide release. I noticed today that many bloggers and reviewers are twittering about having received it too. So I thought I might ask for a favor.
My books are painstakingly edited. And proofed. And edited and proofed again. However, type-o’s reproduce like mice. You can’t get rid of them. It’s happened with every book I’ve ever written. I open it up, and within a few minutes I find a problem. I’ve only read ten or so pages of this one, and I’ve found a couple errors. Again, it’s not the fault of the editors. This might be the cleanest book I’ve ever released. However, if you happen to see a type-o or misspelled word or homosexual innuendo in a scene dominated by straight people, would you mind commenting on it here. Just thought I’d make a space.
The editors will look over your comments to make sure the second edition is problem free. Or rather, problem freer. There will no doubt be more mice.
Thanks!
Don
Hey Don, can I call you Don? I feel like I can. You can call me Jon. I am sitting in a Starbuck right now ( I wanted to see what all the hype was about studying in a coffee shop, it turns out that its like trying to write a poem in a rave) and can’t really concentrate so I thought I’d pop over to your blog because I am anxiously awaiting your new book and the film. Anyways after I read ” I was walking with my hands in his pockets” I instantly started laughing and crying at the same time. I have the “Through Painted Desserts” version so I didn’t get to see it for myself. I think it’s funnier this way though. If I had read it in the book then I probably would’ve just figured it was your way of ending the book with a little humor. Anyways man I can’t wait for your next book and just want to say thanks for the encouragement I get from reading your words.
this honestly has nothing to do with type-o’s but i have to tell you that my friends have been calling my cell phone ever since i sent out the email about co-authoring. that is one of the most hilarious things i’ve ever seen!
[...] Don Miller on tracking down typos. [...]
[...] Don Miller on tracking down typos. [...]
Found one on page 152. It reads “I’m Catholic and don’t get divorced.” Pretty sure it’s supposed to read “I’m Catholic and Catholics don’t get divorced.”
Great stuff Don! Amazing book.
Not sure if this one has been spotted yet: on page 98, “Hemmingway” should be spelled “Hemingway.”
Also on page 98: “Steven King” should definitely be spelled “Stephen King.” (Unless you are talking about somebody else who is not the author…)
LOVING the book so far. If I catch anything else, I’ll let you know!
I know what you mean! I’m an author too and I found several errors in my book after it came out. My publisher comforted me by telling me about a classic book on his shelf where Jesus is repeatedly referred to as The Great Rabbi throughout. Except in one place where he is called The Great Rabbit.
This is a great idea.
It took me a few minutes to realize that I did, in fact, read the same 2 sentences twice – p.143 the last 2 lines of the first paragraph “The pain made the city more beautiful. The story made us different characters than we would have been if we had skipped the story and showed up at the ending an easier way.” are repeated in the last paragraph on that same page.
Page 99!
“Tour d France” (the second instance on the page)
Great read so far…thanks so much.
First, thanks for giving editors a pass on mistakes. I’m Max Lucado’s executive editor, and hardly a day goes by without someone pointing out an error. I haven’t read your book yet, but flipped to the section about McKee (i attended his seminar last year)–anywho…p.40 ‘i should be weary…’ –change to ‘wary’, unless you’re tired of asking questions.
“We were walking into the meadow. I was walking with my hands in my pockets.”
Boy you are a romantic, Don
Still waiting to receive my book. CBD has assured me it’s been shipped and is on the way.
10 hr. flight tomorrow — Million Miles is the book of choice. How can I get my hands on one?
Ok, I admit I just read Blue Like Jazz and I saw not a one type-o. Were they all fixed because I was on the late bus, or did I miss them because of my tears? I’m mailing it on to my 21 yr old son in Steamboat Springs to read between beer parties, classes and hiking (and before the snow flies) so he doesn’t forget who God is in the meantime. And now heading to buy a Million Miles. I’ll be on the lookout for your hands in someone’s pocket other than your own.
HA
And, is “typo” a type-o? Or is “type-o” a typo?
Just had to stop by and say how much I loved the book, which like Rob Bell said, doesn’t do it justice, but I would have to write another book to do that.
Just got it today, and started reading around midnight. Never been good at putting a good book down. My nights and days are kinda mixed up at the moment, and maybe, the quiet of the night is a good time to read a book that takes you through so many emotions. Either way, I was really encouraged and blessed by all that you shared . Through all of your books, I see a lot of myself, and have also learned many of the things you written about in the last few years. You have also given me, and many people, a lot to think about. I have shared some of my thoughts before, so I’ll try not to repeat myself, but thank you for sharing your story with us. It really makes my heart glad, for you, and for everyone looking to be a part of a better story.
Look forward to seeing you in Baltimore.
ps. Not sure if someone mentioned it already, but I saw a typo on page 197, at the bottom. It says inderstood instead of understood.
Top of page 11 two whos. Second paragraph on p 87 there’s a corresponding noun issue – … my characters did what he wanted
I read “Prayer and the art of VW maintenance” in 2000 while a roadie with Waterdeep, a band at the time under Steve Taylor’s label “Squint.” I am currently in Ch. 16 of A Million Miles a Thousand Years” and Waterdeep playing while reading is a great combo. Thanks.
I’m half-way through it and my brain is in fact exploding. I’m just so thrilled. Thank you Don.
-Lydia
on page 197 on the next to the last line on the page the word “inderstood” should be “understood”
I think it’s amazingly brave that you’ve created this space for people to tell you about all of the little things your editors missed. I should say that this is the first book I’ve ever willingly read 15 chapters of in a single day (thanks, by the way, for making the chapters so short).
Anyway, I will oblige your request by pointing out the smallest mistake I came across on page 87; it seems that “characters” should have been singular in the sentence, “So as I was writing my novel, and as my characters did what he wanted…” Unless you’re referring to yourself and not the character in the third person, in which case I will get back to a Million Miles.
Unrelated: I love that there’s a wolf creeping over your shoulder in the photo on the book jacket.
One more thing… Toward the bottom of page 99, “Tour de France” became “Tour d France.”
Page 107 – Missing a “the”
“Perhaps one of the reasons I’ve avoided having a clear ambition is that second you stand up and point toward a horizon, you realize how much there is to lose.”
That’s as far as I’ve gotten. I enjoy that you’re taking comments on your typos. Happy Monday, happy September 20th!
Hi Don, I just finished reading a Million Miles.. great stuff
.
Here are the typos I found:
Pg 21 I was going to say ( says said ) I needed a couple weeks to consider the idea,
Pg 121 You created us only to let us much ( should be march? ) around in our own misery.
Pg 127 ..only to repeat the story with a need ( should be new? ) weed eater and then a new home stereo…
Pg 219 I wondered if I ( it says it) had made a good decision to let things….
Pg 224 …I thought I already knew much of what there ( says their ) was to know about Mike…
Pg 224 …and what we didn’t know was ( says what) rather suprising.
Great read! Thanks for hiding the manuscript
I didn’t see any of the typos! I guess I was looking at the forest not the trees. Thanks
Page 245 second paragraph “honestly” was spelled honsetly
Saw you this weekend in Bothell and loved it! Thanks for taking the time out of your bike riding life and hanging out with us Northwesterners. Found a typo. Hope this helps:
page 175: But I’d like to hear about it, Don. (There are no quotation marks)
Pg. 197 “He inderstood the story was not about him…”
Love the book! See you in Greenville!
(maybe) p 19, second line — I think “onscreen” should be “on-screen”
p 173 “‘…we have over a million acres out there, so I’m sure you’ll be riding across out clients land.’” — clients should be posessive
hey Don,
I was given ‘thousand years’ by a good friend; started it last night and read through to about p 217 before I HAD to get some sleep. Thank you for pouring your heart out like you have. I’m much more interested in ‘soul’ than typo’s (anyone can do typo’s, but soul is rare…), and you’ve got a lot of soul going on in your writing. All the best on your journey, and thanks for sharing it.
The dialogue in chapter 25 is a bit messy, mostly just punctuation errors. I don’t think anyone has pointed these out yet:
pg. 172 – …and his office is set up like a counselor’s office… (should be possessive)
pg. 172 – “Yes, I am,” I said. “I’m scared, but I’m going to give it a try.” (add quotations marks and a comma instead of period)
pg. 172 – “Are you going to start from Portland?” he asked. (lowercase “he”)
pg. 172 – “Are you going to be riding across east Texas?” he asked. (lowercase “he” again)
pg. 172 “I believe so,” I said. (add quotation marks and a comma instead of a period)
pg. 173 “Hey, I hear you recently met your father,” Duncan said…(comma instead of period)
pg. 174 – I remembered sitting in my parents’ car waiting… (should be possessive)
pg. 175 “So I hear you have an idea,” he said. (lowercase “he”)
Thanks for giving us grammar nerds a chance for catharsis! More importantly, thanks for another real yet thoughtful read.
I found a typo in your latest book – p. 45 “commericial”
I’m enjoying the book so far, even with the occasional typo. It makes it more interesting anyway…
i’m a portlander. so it was only page 172 that distracted me with the local misspellings.
i have to say, you are the first author i’ve seen invite readers to spot and report typos.
typos in a book are not so bad. it’s the tattoo that you really want to get right.
I have read through all of the comments that have been published to date and wasn’t able to find anything that speaks to the following; the majority are really matters of inconsistencies and style decisions.
pg. 53 – Web Site
In the bottom paragraph there is an inconsistency with “web site” and “Web site.” My understanding is that you can write the word as “website” or “Web site,” but not at “web site.” Having written a thesis on the 2000 presidential candidates’ Web sites, I am partial to the proper noun usage, but that persuasion seems to be in the minority.
pg. 255 – Web Site + Twitter
But here “website” is used.
I understand visually why the consistency in the formatting on this page works (i.e., website, blog and twitter all not being lower case), but Twitter is a proper noun (…with a capital “T,” that rhymes with “P,” and that stands for pool).
pg. 143 – Sentences Repeat
Not to repeat what Jessica already posted on 09.14, but this page has two identical and two nearly identical sentences that appear in the first and last paragraphs and I wasn’t sure if the repetition was intentional or not. It felt awkward, as if you had moved the sentences to another spot, but forgot to delete the former.
“The pain made the city more beautiful. The story made us different characters than we would have been if we had skipped the story and showed up at the ending an easier way.”
“The pain made the city more beautiful. The story made us different characters if we’d showed up at the ending an easier way.”
pg. 172 – Local Misspellings
I honestly didn’t notice these until Pam (10.06) mentioned the page:
- Mount St. Helens, instead of “Mt. St. Helens”
- Willamette, instead of “Wilamette (spelled incorrectly twice)
- Steel Bridge, instead of “Steele Bridge”
- Fremont Bridge, instead of “Freemont Bridge”
- Mount Hood, instead of “Mt. Hood” (debatable, but it’s located in “Mount Hood National Park”)
pg. 173
There is an apostrophe missing in the word “clients”: ‘…you’ll be riding across our clients land.’ The placement would depend on whether or not Duncan had one or more clients in Texas.
pg. 213 – He
I am very partial to scripture translations that capitalize all pronouns that reference God. I’m never confused about who the “he” is and I think that there is something elegant about a capital “He” in the middle of a sentence. On page 4 though, I realized that your book wasn’t going to follow that style and I wondered if it was intentional, since God’s pronouns were capitalized in the early chapters that you shared. Does not capitalizing God’s pronouns somehow make Him (and/or the book) more accessible? But then on page 213, “He” and “Himself” jumped from the page and I smiled.
Inside Back Jacket Cover – WWW
The URL for your Web site is listed with “www,” but the URL for your Twitter profile is not listed with “www.”
Thanks to Comm 300: Visual Communication, I notice these things, which I jokingly refer to as my college curse. But I also most often see God at work in the details and in His consistency.
Thank you for writing.
Don,
Love the book.
On pg 152, the words “he put down his beer” apear twice in the span of two consecutive sentences of dialogue spoken by your father. So if he just put his beer down, he can’t put it down again–again. It’s as if you were finding the best place for that phrase and forgot to delete one of them.
I am planning to see you in Grand Rapids tomorrow. Can’t wait.
typo report – On page 245 of the hardbound edition in Chapter 36 – honestly is spelled honsetly – the line is “I honestly had no idea it was that bad.”
Typo’s
Page 98: Steven King calls the television the glass TEAT….(should be “TREAT”)
Page 99: …while sitting in a chair watching the Tour ‘D’ France (missing ‘e’ Tour “DE” France).
Like the book a lot, Don. It’s interesting how a great story/adventure for me was actually meeting You last year!!
Blessings
Just one other that I’ve noticed so far – Rwanda was a Belgian colony prior to independence and not a British one as you suggest
Don, I’d like to address inconsistencies in your DVD presentation titled Into the Elements–not in grammar or usage, but in literary references.
The “raccoon’s paw” (your words) in A Prayer for Owen Meany is an armadillo’s front claws; my hardback copy even has a picture of an armadillo on the cover, just in case a reader gets confused.
It’s also the title of the second chapter.
Ah, Romeo and Juliet. It’s probably been awhile since you’ve read the text: it’s pretty standard for ninth-grade students across America. In session one, you indicate in your discussion of the prologue that the feuding families never give up the bitter fight, even in the end. Oops. The prologue’s lines indicate that nothing could remove (“naught could remove”) “the continuance of their parents’ rage”–nothing, that is, “BUT their children’s end” (emphasis mine), which indicates that the parents’ rage does end, but only because of the death of their children. This is supported by the end of the play: Papa Capulet calls Papa Montague “brother” and asks for his hand. Papa Montague responds by promising to “raise her statue in pure gold. . . As that of true and faithful Juliet.”
In session four, you say that Juliet gets poison from an apothecary, but she gets it from Friar Lawrence, who dabbles in herbs, etc. His soliloquy, a comparison of plants and people, exposes and reflects upon the “grace and rude will” found in both nature and humanity. It also helps establish his credibility for making the potion for Juliet–not a detail wasted, a concept which you discuss in that same session, but later.
Then you say that Romeo sees her body and goes to another apothecary to get poison. In the play, Balthasar, his trusted servant, brings a banished Romeo the news. He then gets poison from the Mantua apothecary. He does not see her body, though, before doing this.
Does it matter? Yes. I bought the DVD set in order to use it in my classroom, but a previewing with a teaching colleague (who loved Blue Like Jazz and began viewing with a positive mindset) and a gifted student (a well-read, lucid writer and a product of public schools) indicated that I’d better not. Why? Inattention to detail strains the reader’s trust and weakens the speaker’s authority. While I enjoyed reading your latest book, I had to admit (to my colleague and my student) that the amount of errors in the last half often made me surface out of my readerly reverie. It’s the curse of being a teacher and a grammar maven: I can spot an inconsistency at forty paces. Most of the errors have been covered in previous posts, so I won’t belabor them. Perhaps, though, I could edit your next book or lecture series!
Thank you for making this spot for feedback available. (I feel better already!) Also, thank you for speaking into the lives of fatherless boys. They’re in my classroom, and they’re writing. And oh boy, are they pissed. (Rightfully so, yes?)
One more thing: on the blog page, under your picture, the caption reads, “This is my blogs.” Could we change that to “This is my blog” or “These are my blogs”? Pretty please?
well, it was great to meet you last night in Jamestown. I’ve read each of your books feeling like if we had met in real life we could have been great friends (something tells me I’m not unique in that!). And though I’ve now met you in real life, it wasn’t REAL real life, but ‘you, author’ and ‘me, fan’ real life. But especially after hearing you speak, I still wish I could have met you before people actually started buying BLJ (!), so that maybe we could have been real life friends.
As to the edits I noted, I scanned through the comments already listed here and I think most of what I saw has already been mentioned, but I will check through and add anything else (thanks for the opportunity, it was fun!)!!
Here’s a few that others didn’t catch (yet):
p. 113 — “reasons” (should be “reason”), 3rd line from bottom
p. 125 — “vacuum”
p.136 — Cusco isn’t anywhere near the equator (Quito is)
p. 143 — (line 12) “Incas” –no apostrophe, it’s only a plural
p. 164 — (line 18) “country’s” [opposite mistake from the previous]
p. 181 — (line 6) “lay”: should be “lain” or “laid”
p. 190 — (line 17) delete “not”
Great book; but, as others have already pointed out, clean text eliminates unnecessary distraction and detraction, so it’s worth it. I still don’t understand how a major publisher doesn’t use spell-check (or even a human proofreader) before publishing a book. Thomas Nelson has no viable excuse for such shoddy work. They can’t find a literate person who will clean it up for a dollar a page before printing??
p. 11, lines 1/2: the guy who who had a movie company
One “who” will do
p. 237: third line from the bottom: Kampala who Bob, should be “whom”
p. 175: But I’d like to hear aboout it, Don. Should be enclosed in “”
p. 173, line 8 should read “client’s” (or clients’) not clients.
Fantastic read! Met you in Fremont, CA. The book definitely lives up to the preview you gave that night! No more worries for me about Christmas gifts now!
Dear Donald,
Sorry to be the contrarian but I think the majority of blame for the unusually high number of errors in this book falls squarely on that of your publisher (and editors). Maybe if Mike Hyatt spent less time twittering his every thought and more time concerned with the quality of his company’s products, scenarios like this would be less common. It’s kinda embarrassing.
Page 98 -“Steven King calls the television ‘the glass teat,’ and I was suckling on it for all its sugar.” I am assuming “the glass teat” was taken from page 143 of “On Writing”. It’s Stephen King.
(You just moved places on my list of favorite authors; you are now below Stephen King.)
That was unnecessarily harsh. The truth is “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” was amazing. I personally loved the book. I also loved “Blue Like Jazz” and “Searching for God Knows What”. Keep them coming.
Thanks for setting this up. Most of the errors I saw have already been commented on in earlier posts. Here are a few more that I didn’t see posted yet:
p. 184 – midthirties – should be mid-thirties or mid thirties
p. 247 – this is more a typesetting issue, but it looks like “let me help” at the top of the page is a slightly smaller font size, or perhaps a different font, than the rest of the printing
p. 253 – Prison Entrepeneururship – should be Entrepreneurship
Great book!
Hey Don. Mistakes always stand out – unfortunately.
I was in the newspaper biz for most of my life and I got phone calls all the time letting me know the latest edition was wrought with typos. In the interest of meeting a deadline, which is crucial for a daily publication, typos are the norm. They shouldn’t be for books.
I’ve just done a rewrite of a 361 page book for a client and I’m now on my final (3rd) edit. I’ll guarantee I’ll find multiple errors and, despite my best efforts, I’ll undoubtedly miss some.
If the book is published, I’m sure my client will welcome any criticism for the sheer joy of making it into print, but errors aggravate me – especially when they’re my own.
I read the ARC of this book. It was horrendous! I emailed my contact at Thomas Nelson and told them that I had written a review, as I had told them I would, but would not be sending it to them because I was sure the ARC didn’t do the book justice.
Why would they send out such an unrefined product as a review copy? I don’t get it.
I received the finished product a few weeks back but, due to my schedule; I’ve only read four chapters . I did find several errors but, obviously, you already know of the editing problems – thus this spot on your Blog exists.
Don’t let the negatives get you down, Don. They’ll always be out there. Keep writing – and tell Thomas Nelson to hire some new editors.
Love your work.
Not sure if someone mentioned it already, but I saw a typo on page 197, at the bottom. It says inderstood instead of understood.
Boy, I’m glad I wasn’t just being too dorky seeing those type-o’s
The fact remains: the book is just awesome!
not sure if this one has been spotted yet-
“We rode through cities, though Dallas and Little Rock and…” p238
I love the book! Blue Like Jazz has been my all time favorite read for years, but I’m about to finish this one, and I think it may like it even better!