The Grate T ypo Contesst

While I don't write nearly as often as I should, I do tend to write a lot of stuff. The stuff I write often ends up on one of my web pages, too, or on this very blog. And after some time, I'll go back and glance over something I've written, and there it will be - a typo. This could be an extra or missing letter, or a misspelling, or, my personal favorite, my use of a similar "sounding" word instead of the word I meant to use (as I tend to "hear" words as I'm writing). Whatever it is, I find it, and I realize to my dismay that this error has been there all this time, and people have been seeing it, and everyone reading my stuff must now think I'm COMPLETELY RETARDED!!! It's a very frustrating moment for any writer.

I had this idea a while ago, a possible way to address this, and I'm finally getting around to proposing it. And this proposition involves you. And you can actually profit from it!

What I'm starting, beginning today, is something I'm calling "The Great Typo Contest". It's a very simple idea - if you read something of mine (blog, web page, story) and find some kind of error and let me know about it, you score one point. I'm going to start tracking points for the next twelve months. At the end of this year, I'll tally the points, and whoever has the most gets a prize. What prize? That remains to be determined, because I'll probably end up personalizing it for whomever the winner is, but it'll be something good, I promise. This way, I get to identify and fix errors in my writing (and therefore look and feel less retarded), and you get your hands on some kind of goody for my appreciation of your hooking me up.

You can let me know about this error either by dropping me an email (and that's at oconnellmd@aol.com, in case you didn't know), or, if it's something on this blog, you can post a comment and point it out (and chastise me publicly). Or you can call me or send me a post card. Whatever works best for you.

There are a couple of rules. The first and most important one is that the error you find must be a fixable one. That is, it has to be something I can still edit. Entries on this blog and web pages of mine are good examples of what counts. What doesn't count is email. If I screw up in an email to you, I'm not going to be able to do anything about it at that point, so that doesn't do me a lot of good. So that would be worth no points, but if it makes you feel better, feel free to call me on it and feel smug. This also goes for things like message boards I may be on with you where the entires can't be edited. If I can fix it, it counts. If I can't, I'm screwed, and therefore no point is awarded.

The second rule is that even if someone else spotted it first, if you email me about it, you still get a point. I give points for effort, and in appreciation of the gesture. This rule does not apply, though, if someone else publicly (say, a comment on this blog) pointed it out first. Then that person alone gets the point.

Errors can be all kinds of things. Just while typing this, I found myself adding an "s" to the end of a word that shouldn't have had one, and missing an apostrophe. I also have a bad habit of typing "me" instead of "my" (though this may be a genetic Irish thing). Sometimes there are errors of omission. I may skip a word in my typing haste. If you see a sentence that goes "Boy, did I really hate that movie The and the Furious", obviously I meant to stick another word in there. I may misuse a word. I had a friend recently point out to me that I had used "phase" in a sentence where I should have used "faze" (again, I "heard" it in my head right, but the wrong word got churned out by my fingers). There are many ways to score, as I use all KINDS of creative ways to screw up!

Some people get embarrassed or bitter if someone points out a mistake of theirs. I'm not one of those people. The idea of finding out I screwed something up is nothing compared to the idea that this screw-up has remained for a long time and has been viewed by many people over and over. I really want to know if I made a boo-boo, I want to fix it as soon as possible, and I'm very grateful to anyone that makes that happen. You'll be doing me a favor, and I will appreciate it - and if you've done it enough, you'll get more than a sense of satisfaction for doing a good deed. You'll get stuff! (By the way - I just typed "dead" instead of "deed" and caught it when I read back through. See how easy I make this?).

So the contest is on! Please overcome your societal programming that says pointing out the shortcomings of others is poor manners. I'm asking for it! Bring it on! Thank you, in advance, for helping me make my writing more understandable. When you re-read something you've written yourself, sometimes your brain sees what you MEANT to write and misses the parts where the reality didn't match up, so an extra pair of eyes is a big plus. Or, in this case, hopefully, a bunch of extra pairs. The points begin today, and the big prize can be yours next year!

And no, using the subject line of this blog entry does not count as your first point. Smart ass.

P.S. And remember, it's not just new stuff that counts. If you really want to get off to an early lead, consider reading old blog entries, or stuff on MichaelOConnell.com or the Nice Guy site. Points = stuff!