On page 225 of Coop, I refer to my father’s Massey-Ferguson 132. It was actually a 135. I am at a loss to explain this error, as I knew very well it was a 135, and have even referred to it as such in a video I did a long time before I wrote the book.
Anyway. Thanks to Dennis, who noted this.
Spoke at an event in Green Bay and got to meet a guy named Guy, which was fun because thanks to Guy, the new paperback version of Coop contains two less [fewer] errors than the hardcover.
Guy’s a professional, and on page 117 of the Coop hardcover, he suggested the following change:
[an extraneous "is" six lines up from the bottom of the page] This is only forces her…
On page 335 he suggested the following change:
[top line] …often enough now that it sometimes it takes me…
Done, and done.
Thanks, Guy, and nice to meet you the other night.
As regular visitors know, I happily post my oopses. As long as everyone remains civil.
For a sampling of other errors, flick back and forth through the Oops! tag pages.
Here’s a link to The Morning Blend interview I did with Molly and Tiffany. First TV stop of the Coop paperback tour. The baby food reference at the end was related to the preceding piece in which there was discussion of Jennifer Aniston’s legs and “baby food diet”. Good luck with that.
Also of interest to me, if no one else. On shows like this, you have a brief amount of time to tell as much of the story as you can. Plus, it’s early. So I tend to go a mile-a-minute even though 30 minutes previous I was groggily bumping around a dark hotel room. This leads to mental fuzz. Note how I mention that the coop wasn’t finished before the first egg came; then note how I speak of my daughter going to the coop to find that first egg. Now I’ve got to go back and check the book and see what part of that quote is accurate. Sheesh. Glad I wasn’t testifying before Congress.
Read and spoke at the local Unitarian Universalist Church today. About faith, shaken faith, wandering versus seeking, the idea of universal humility, and how our spiritual foundations shape us long after we leave the house. I also spoke of my gratitude for my children (their presence forces me to examine my heart on a daily basis) and my parents (their faithful example influences me always, even though some might not see it). I would add my wife, who endures my wobbly-headed ways.
Thank you to the local congregation for the invitation. It was a blessing to be surrounded by thoughtful folks open to a multitude of perspectives.
As a side note, because of the nature of the discussion (frankly, I feel in way over my head with these things and suspect I operate at the theological equivalent of a late-night freshman dorm room chat), I was more nervous at the podium than I have been in a long time. This led to one of the most eye-widening “misspeaks” of my career. While attempting to read the following line from Coop,
…an itinerant evangelist showed up late for gospel meeting and crept into the back row…
I got tongue-tied and said “crapped” instead of “crept.”
Hoooo. I’m a guy who’s not ashamed to go for a laugh (oh, and it got one!), but that one left me red-faced.
Mr. Big-Shot Writer Dude just received an email from his 7th grade English teacher saying she’s enjoying Coop but that on page 138 I should have used “quietly” rather than “quiet.”
She is correct, of course. I am told she is re-sharpening her red pen. I expect at least three more emails.
Thanks, Mrs. R. And thanks even more for that blackboard assignment back in 197? that helped me fall for writing in the first place.
Retired, you say? A teacher is always teaching.
Page 107, line four: …for my one of my sisters…
My, my.
Thank you to Paula, longsufferingtime friend in Nebraska. Many times I have raided her refrigerator.
These corrections are humbling. They were brought to my attention by my sister-in-law Leanne. I wrote in the book I couldn’t bring myself to discuss the details with her and my brother, but I should have. She was very polite and kind about it, but still.
On page 269, I wrote that the fire chief put Jed and Leanne in his truck. Leanne says the chief actually drove them in Leanne’s vehicle.
Regarding page 273, Leanne says that although she was carrying Jake during her initial firefighting class, he was born shortly thereafter and she thinks the instructor was actually referring to his surprise when Leanne turned up one week after Jake’s birth, fire gear in hand, ready to continue and finish the class. Still — I think we can all agree — remarkable.
Finally, Leanne says she is not sure there was a heartbeat.
There are writerly lessons in all of this. But above all, I want to do right by my family, because they are patient with me and did not ask to be (in fact would in most cases prefer to avoid being) written about. That Leanne would take the time to read something so personally painful and then respond in such a thoughtful manner only reinforces something I try to remind myself of daily: before the writing, before the books, before any of it, there is family. And I’m blessed with a fine one.
This one makes me feel bad. My parents are very private folks. The fact that I write about them is a big presumption on my part. Tonight my Mom called me. She just saw the book and noticed that the copy on the inside dust jacket flap says my parents have taken in “over 100 foster children.” Mom says it was more like 60 or so (she quit keeping track around that number), and when I checked the text of the book on page 86 that’s exactly what I wrote (“sixty or so”). I’m pretty sure what happened is I put 100 in as a placeholder early on and it got left in a lot of the promotional material after I changed it in the main text. So. For the sake of my Mom, and just in case I get called out on Oprah, let it be known this mixup is completely on me.
On page 307. Should be Buster Keaton, not Harold Lloyd. I found this one myself…after the book was in print, unfortunately.
A reader named Lisa has found an oops! in Coop. On page 186 I write of my father driving east on I-94 to St. Paul, Minnesota, which is tough to do when you’re coming from Wisconsin. Because of the way the sentence is written, I could argue that I was talking about the return trip home, but I can’t lie: In my head I was facing west and it is a plain-and-simple oops!.
$25.00
from $13.50
from $13.50