Publication date for my book, How Hard Could It Be? The Stories of WFHB, is coming tantalizingly near. Just a few short weeks ago, I got an advance copy of it and, as luck would have it, ran into WFHB board president Emily Jackson in the parking lot of the Monroe County Public Library that day. Naturally, I pulled the copy out of my bag and showed it off to her. She clicked a pic of it and me and posted the shot on social media.
Jeanette Smedberg caught the post and immediately asked EJ the DJ to connect us. Next thing anybody knew, Jeannette was volunteering to preview the manuscript.
EJ the DJ snapped me in the Monroe County Public Library parking lot.
Retired now, Jeannette ran BCS Advertising here in Bloomington for years. She has extensive experience in proofreading, typesetting, and other chores related to the precise placement and appearance of words and images in various media. Jeannette was able to offer learned, considered suggestions and has been trained to catch the most minute typo, misuse, or grammar sin. I jumped at her offer.
Jeannette took the task seriously. Her eye is sharp. Wielding her blue pencil with a deft, sensitive hand, she’s caught hundreds of chinks in my prose. She even challenged me on an aspect of style, which made me think deeply about my approach and forced me to justify certain things I had done.
She fell out of the sky and the book is going to be all the better for it.