Yesterday, I once again spent the whole day proofreading. My erudite colleague provided much-appreciated grammatical corrections.
Although I think I have a pretty good command of English grammar, its arcane rules have never fascinated me. As a writer, I think the content is more important. Still, as my colleague pointed out, grammatical errors are distracting and need to be eliminated or at least minimized. Hence the hours hunkered down and proofreading!
For example, did you know there was an important difference between "any more" and "anymore"? On the other hand, is there an important difference between "judgement" and "judgment"? It is such questions that occupy the copyeditor's day...
Finally, I made all the fixes and returned the manuscript to the publisher. Same with the cover.
Surprisingly, the cover came back from the publisher at the end of the day with the one correction needed, a simple matter of punctuation in the title. Today, I approved the cover for printing! Hooray!
In a few days, the corrected manuscript should return for its final round of proofing. I pray there are no overlooked errors so that we can go to print! Can't wait!