Galleys of Deceit

Heard from my publisher yesterday that I'll be receiving the galleys for my next adult suspense, Deceit, on Friday. Which means I'll have to put in about six hours' work over the weekend to proof said galleys. I can't take the time during the regular work week, as I have to make word count on my current manuscript.

I always love receiving galleys, as they present the text as it will be laid out in printed form. Galleys are a "sneak pique" at how the novel will look inside once it's published.

We're not supposed to make many writing changes at the galley stage, which is intended for proofreading. Writing changes should have been completed by copy edit stage (which at my publishing house is the third stage of editing). However, I typically see a few things that need fixing in the galleys, as well as typos.

As I proof, others at the publishing house willl be proofing as well. Still, with all those eyes sometimes typos slip into printing. The greatest chance for this is during the keying-in of changes. If at that last moment the typist makes an error and doesn't catch it herself--on it goes to print. Other times myriad people can overlook a typo because our eyes tend to "fix" misspelled words.

If you ever see a typo in one of my printed books, I am always grateful to hear from you about it. I send such e-mails on to my copy editor, who can see that the mistake is fixed for the next printing.

About Deceit:
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Sometimes the truth hides where no one expects to find it.

Joanne Weeks knows Baxter Jackson killed Linda--his second wife and Joanne’s best friend—six years ago. But Baxter, a church elder and beloved member of the town, walks the streets a free man. The police tell Joanne to leave well enough alone, but she is determined to bring him down. Using her skills as a professional skip tracer, she sets out to locate the only person who may be able to put Baxter behind bars. Melissa Harkoff was a traumatized sixteen-year-old foster child in the Jackson household when Linda disappeared. At the time Melissa claimed to know nothing of Linda's whereabouts--but was she lying?

In relentless style, Deceit careens between Joanne's pursuit of the truth--which puts her own life in danger--and the events of six years' past, when Melissa came to live with the Jacksons. What really happened in that household? Beneath the veneer of perfection lies a story of shakeable faith, choices, and the lure of deceit.
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Deceit releases in July.