Every two weeks we’re sharing tips for editors from the desk of Douglas Gibson. Good for those starting out or old hands who need a reminder, these reminders form an engaging guide for sharp-eyed wordsmiths.
Tip #12
Leonard Lee, of Lee Valley Tools, once startled an Editors’ Association of Canada meeting by announcing that editors proofreading the vitally important catalogue on which his company depended were instructed to read each line backwards, comparing it with the original. It was a striking affirmation of just how unreliable most of us are in this task. Our eyes and our brains fill in the missing letters or words, or see what they expect to sea. The trick is to proofread assuming that there are indeed mistakes hidden there, and that the text is guilty until proven innocent.
Missed the previous tips? Check out Tip #1, Tip #2, Tip #3, Tip #4, Tip #5, Tip #6, Tip #7, Tip #8, Tip #9, Tip #10, and Tip #11.
Douglas Gibson 
I finally caught up to you… I think! I sent an email to you via simon@ecwpress.com hoping they would forward it to you.
I love your book! “Stories About Storytellers”.
I can be reached at leslienadon@bell.net
I was trying to contact you before and got sidetracked or rather back on track, working on my 3rd book about my favourite calls on-air from about 16 years of doing my own radio show, “Ye Olde English Astrologer” on AM 800 CKLW.
The first show I did was as a guest doing public relations for Cystic Fibrosis, Sep 1, 1973. My last show was Sep 1, 2003
I very much enjoyed meeting you here in Windsor last fall.
Sincere regards, Leslie Nadon
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