bite me

Posted by admin | December 21, 2017

Last night, I was laying on the couch watching some TV. Zailey came up and half climbed on the couch next to me. By this, I mean that she had her front legs up on the couch and her hind legs still on the floor. She was sort of blocking my view, but I continued to watch TV around her. Since I was engrossed in the show, I mindlessly reached to pet her head. She was in a playful mood, so she mouthed my hand. I jerked my hand away, which made her want to play more, and I showed my palm to show that I was not playing. I was still engrossed in the show when I tried to pet her again. This time I got a BIT more than a mouthing.

At first, I couldn't believe it. I jerked my hand away and I think I pushed her down (I am too stunned to recall exactly). I know my wife saw the bite since she was asking what I did to get bit. I think I just wasn't paying attention enough to Zailey's signals and that got me more teeth than usual.

It wasn't like it was a hard bite. It certainly didn't draw blood or really injure me. It stung my pinky a little and I still felt it a half hour later.

Lately, I've been listening to my narrator act out Tech Fear. I've been more than impressed with what he has done with my words. The only problem is that I realized that I had made a mistake in the book. I don't know how many times I've read the book and two editors that were looking for content also didn't spot the mistake.

The mistake is this: in one scene, I have a thumbpad on my ship and in two other scenes, I have a keypad. I didn't mean for the ship to have both! The keypad is what I meant for the ship to have.

I had to ask myself, does this really matter? The book has been out for less than a month and I can change the ebook with a quick upload. I've also printed a bunch of copies and have even sold some of them. Then there is the audiobook. Do I really want the narrator going back and rerecording this scene?

I recently bought an autographed copy of my favorite book, Larry Niven's A World Out of Time. There is a note from Niven in the book about Ringworld and that fans should hang on to any first editions because the world spins the wrong way. Here he was acknowledging the mistake which I thought was big of him. I just wonder how many people noticed the mistake. Was it noticeable?

In my case, while not meaning to have both a thumbpad and a key pad, it certainly isn't a bad thing. The times that the characters access the keypad, they are wearing environmental suits and gloves. When they access the thumbpad, they don't have any gloves. The thumbpad is quicker, but not always feasible. Therefore, having both isn't that inconceivable, but I'm sure someone will notice and ask why there is both. If someone is paying that close of attention, then I'll be happy because it will mean someone is hanging on every single word I write. To me, that means I've succeeded.

If you are afraid that I would bite your head off for bringing something like this to my attention, you are sorely mistaken. I will laugh it off and be proud that you noticed. It's not like I'm Zailey or something where the only way I can communicate is by biting!