There It Is
September 23, 2008
“…I haven’t even caught anything yet, but there is no doubt in my mind something will appear, and I’m actually looking forward to that discovery.” -excerpt from this blog entry, dated July 25, 2008
This sentence was written after two days of press checks, the days my book was actually printed and I was on hand for final color adjustments. Any typos or grammatical errors, at that point, were permanently embedded in the story of the book, any mistakes locked into place for all the world to see when the book was released. During those press checks and after I wondered to myself, “What is the mistake that I missed? Where will it be?”
Well hello there, mistake, I now see you there right on the cover of the book.
But just in case that wasn’t enough for me, you’ve gone and inserted yourself into page four of the book as well. Thanks for the reminder!
It looks innocuous, right. I mean – forward – it’s just forward, I’ve written that word about a zillion times, thought it in my head, imagined what it means.
“I am moving forward with this book.”
“Following this dream is a journey is forward motion.”
“Here is the forward, written by Keri Smith -”
Wait just a second there little lady…not so fast…
I was at the airport earlier this week waiting for my second flight to take me home after Squam Art Workshops, and while flipping through The War of Art – a book that is fast becoming my creative manifesto – I stumbled upon that little nugget shown above.
Then today I popped on over to dictionary.com and found this:
fore·word [fawr-wurd, -werd, fohr-] –noun
a short introductory statement in a published work, as a book, esp. when written by someone other than the author.
So I’ve decided this – I am going to turn this into my little quirky thing, so if when I have any other books published, I’ll always do this. Then when fancy author and editor types say something like, “What a dork, she didn’t even spell foreword properly,” someone else can pipe in and say, “No, no, she does that on purpose. She’s, you know, kooky that way.”
I’ll be known as that odd bird, that one that spells that word wrong just because she can.
There is an excerpt in this book about the fact that I tend to learn how to do most things by doing them wrong the first time, so this is pretty much par for the course in my world. And I have the book cover to prove it.
Yes, cause you are ‘kooky’ like that…
but no! you’re not! you are normal. just like THAT.
Even Keri is ‘moving’ you ‘forward’ by her beautiful words…why would you want to write fore-ward…which means…nothing?
i love this moving ‘forward’ thing…you’re one of the ‘mad and crazy beautiful’ ones my friend! For that reason you ‘for’ the ‘world’ to hear how you are flying into the future with your forward’ness.
heehee…love this! xx
you know what is hilarious, i didn’t even catch that.
until you broke open the dictionary reference,
“i was like, what mistake?”
i think it is cute and quirky. i dig it!
shine anyway!
xo
I am looking foreward to receiving my copy…ciao!
I am planning to order a copy of this book because I love your inspiration. And as far as “forward” vs. “foreward”? Well this just proves that you are human, that you are imperfect (hooray!) and even how you discovered this “error” is inspirational!!!
Ah, live and learn. In the grand scheme of life, it doesn’t really matter. At least you turned it around and made it your own quirky thing.
)
oy…thank God! now you can relax! there it is!
Linda
I love that! You will now always be “kooky that way” to me. Honestly, even with your arrows, I couldn’t figure it out. I wonder how many people will really notice. You kooky thing, you!
i love that typo!
especially since your book is full of encouragement to move ‘forward’ in our journeys.
Oh Christine…I just staring at that wondering what was wrong with the spelling of that word. I think it is kinda cool the way you spelled it there. It goes with your glowing personality. And how cool that you have decided to embrace it. I love that!
I love it! A play on words…after all a journey is about moving ‘forward’…
I didn’t get it at first, I’m like…it’s spelled right isn’t it?!!! hahah!
i love the “kooky, like that!” -
your book is awesome and so are you!
xoxo
you spelled exactly as it was meant to be spelled.
sparkly you!
xoxo
The imperfections are often the best part of creating in my opinion….:):)
Congratulations on your book!
god i love that.
i think you should just dial up Mr. Webster and ask him to change the spelling because it looks SO much better your way. ; )
didn’t even notice it!!
and LOVE your attitude about it.
your acceptance.
your sense of humor.
your willingness to make a party out of it.
one of the many reasons why i love you!!
xo
I love this typo!!!! I think I am going to misssspelll that word from now on!!!! xoxox
Totally new to your blog but loving it; your artwork’s amazing, self-publishing a book inspiring.
A little story to share — when I published the first issue of my ‘zine, I went through folding, cutting, and stapling 40 before I noticed that I had teased an article on the cover that never made it into the ‘zine. Each issue goes through so many checks, but I never thought to check the cover! Anyway, I was already waaay past the deadline and had done so much work (while wearing a sling due to a car accident, no less!), so I ended up throwing plain mailing labels over that bit on the cover and decorating ‘em. A few people peeled off the stickers, so I had to throw the article in the NEXT issue because some people really wanted to read it!
It happens. Welcome to life. Then again, from reading your blog, I can see you’re already well acquainted with it!
double funny that the misspelled word is also right there in the “premonition” excerpt from your blog entry:
sneaky!
“…looking forward to that discovery.”
hehe… always right under the nose
yes
yes
and more yes!
you’re moving forward with the beauty and support of the dear keri smith. what could be more perfect than that?
xoxo
I think it’s rather a serendipitious typo and one you should own with honour! You are moving forward, in every sense – and that’s a positive thing. Since returning from London I’ve been too busy working on rewrites to tell you the package arrived – merci bien! Wish I could be there for your show. I know it will be a huge success. And soon I will have my post about your book and the painting – another example of serendipity! xo