One Year of Proofing

  The June issue marked one year that my mother has been doing the proofreading for the paper. To honour her contribution as a volunteer, we got her a thank-you card and a bouquet of flowers from Zocalo. She really appreciated the gesture.

Motherproof

My mother is BMC News' proofreader -- that is no secret. She gets a credit in the masthead and everything. Vikki and I refer to the draft my mother handles as the "motherproof." And indeed, having your mother as a key volunteer can make the process rather interesting. For example, when we disagree on a change, it can turn into a major argument that can end up being about a whole lot more than just whether or not a comma should go in that particular spot. There is always a risk of tempers flaring when working with someone you're related to or intimately involved with. Isn't it so ironic we tend to get along better with acquaintances and those we know casually, than the people closest to us in our lives? That is my profound question of the evening. Over and out.

Proofing the Paper

Proofing the paper is one of the most intense processes of putting BMC News together. Vikki and I send changes and corrections back and forth until we have a working proof, which then goes to my mother for official proofreading, then back and forth again until everything is in place. It can be a stressful time, but once it is sent off to the printer it is out of our hands. A fact of the publishing business is that you can have ten proofreaders, and you will still end up with some errors in the finished product, but the goal is to produce as clean copy as possible. Of course, there are some people who enjoy hunting through the paper trying to find small errors and typos - my feeling? If that is all they have to do with their time then I am glad we're giving them something productive to do.