A cautionary thread, #WritingCommunity #amwriting. My 5th title comes out Sunday. I& #39;m an old hand at this, and I am part of a cooperative press with good people who take book quality seriously. But we are living in strange times. My copy editor has always been stellar.

So when they sent me a lengthy list of corrections - the usual duplicated or missed or wrong words, etc., I fixed them, assumed they& #39;d done their job as well as they always had. Then I got my printed proof, and it was rife with errors my copy-editor had missed.

There have been many articles about how the stress of the pandemic destroys our ability to concentrate. I should have taken that seriously, but perhaps I too was having difficulty concentrating. I& #39;m not blaming my copy-editor.

Hubs & I worked all weekend to find & fix the errors, and I will meet the deadlines to upload. I& #39;ve talked to other writers whose editors are uncharacteristically missing mistakes too, and I& #39;m wondering what I, wearing my editor& #39;s hat, am missing in the work I& #39;m doing.

As COVID-19 drags on, we need to recognize how stress may manifest, even when we think we& #39;ve done our usual good job. Work takes longer. Work needs double & triple checking. Most of all, we need to be kind to each other, & forgiving, and gentle.