by Jeff Deck
Reading through your work again after that first technical edit, you can scrutinize your sentences and sharpen your message. This next edit is more focused on technique and style as you refine phrasing and word choice. There’s no such thing as a perfect first draft, just as in writing there’s no single “right” answer; use a second edit (or more!) to improve the clarity and power of your words.
References
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Acknowledgments
Many thanks to Julia Pastore, who believed in this project from the start, for all of her careful attentions. She promised an editorial style of raising important questions, offering gentle guidance that led us to find the book we wanted to write. Also to Domenica Alioto, who makes sure Julia doesn’t leave her office without her head firmly attached.
We’d like to extend a thank-you and a hearty hurrah to everyone at Harmony Books; you saw what was significant about our struggle for orthographic justice—and got the joke, too. To Kira Walton, associate director of marketing, Campbell Wharton, director of publicity, and Penny Simon, executive publicist, for patiently helping two neophytes to introduce their book to the world in a way that would best connect it to readers who’d love it. To Shaye Areheart, publisher of Harmony Books, for welcoming us into the fold and for assembling such a fantastic team. To David Wade Smith, for superior copyediting. To Patty Shaw, production editor; Jessie Bright, jacket designer; and Elina Nudelman, text designer.
A special thanks to our agent, Jeff Kleinman, the man who never sleeps. You tracked us down, told us we “had to be writing a book,” and introduced us to the folks at Harmony. We couldn’t have gotten here without you. Thanks also to the whole team at Folio Lit.
We’re very grateful to everyone who was kind enough to host us and other TEAL associates during our typo hunt across America: Alice and Brian, Raisha Price, Diane and David Herson, Abby Horowitz and Eli Rosenberg, Paula and Ben Sides, Stephanie Bortis, Christine Laliberte, Frank Yoshida, Katie Lynch and Lisa Torrey, Jon Schroeder, Michelle Grimard, Marie and Terry Huizing, Jessica Deck, R. Jerry and Toni Deck, Grandma Mary Jane Deck, Dan and Rachel Herson, Bill Bortis and E. Kristen Frederick, and Susan Deck. We would never have made it without such a surfeit of hospitality.
Thanks so much to everyone who wrote in to express their support for the TEAL trip while it was happening and in the months that followed. You were a constant reminder that the trip was worthwhile, so crucial during those days when our efforts met blank stares and brush-offs. You (and those who thoughtfully purchased this book) are the future of the League. We can’t wait to work with you in further campaigns for improvement of spelling and grammar education.
We would also like to thank Dr. Joe McCleary, Chris Finn, Gina McKinnon, Nicole Gregory, Kelly Flynn, and Bridget Sheehan at Mystic Valley Regional Charter School for demonstrating to us the marvels of Direct Instruction. Thanks also to Jerry Silbert of NIFDI. Thanks as well to Tim Cahill, a creative collaborator and good friend who gave chapter 18 a read-through and then explained to us what had happened in that courtroom; to Kevin Allen, who let us use his personal story; and to Chris Collins.
Jeff Deck
Special thanks to Uncle Pat for rousting the local media in Erie, and to Uncle Danny for the free food at his sports bar, On Deck. Thanks to Gary for the free sandwiches in Ellensburg, Washington. Thanks to Lisa Watson of Cupcake Jones in Portland, Oregon, for the free cupcakes. Thanks to my friends in Somerville who presented me with a generous gas card at my birthday/farewell party: Krystina and James Bruce, Tim Tufts and Ainsley Ross, Emily Perry and Joe O’Brien, and Sonya Grabauskas. Thanks to Dana Tellier and Carol Stamnas Tellier for an equally generous offering. Thanks to Aunt Carol and Uncle George for the road-trip assistance. Thanks to Uncle Bill and Aunt Kristen for lending me a hand in times of legal trouble. Thank you to Josh Roberts for participating in the West Coast leg of the trip, including a lot of driving. Also thank you to Erin Donovan for putting up with Benjamin and me as we finished the book.
Thanks to Professor Ernie Hebert, teacher, writer, and adviser at Dartmouth College, for offering so many helpful insights into the craft of writing. Thanks to Mr. Joe Sullivan of West High School in New Hampshire for sparking my interest in writing in the first place. As for my training in editing, copyediting, and proofreading, I can credit the instruction and example of my supervisors at (now-defunct) Heldref Publications: Paul Skalleberg, Marie Huizing, Jennifer Pricola (Horak), and Abby Beckel.
I’m indebted to Jane Connolly for designing the TEAL website, patiently enduring my long absence during the trip, accompanying me through the northern plains, and later patiently enduring my summons to Arizona (and branding as a criminal). Her love and support sure helped the writing of this book, too. Much love, bear.
Thanks to my mom for offering suggestions on the manuscript and for consistently supporting my dreams and endeavors. I’ve been continually inspired by her strength and savvy; singlehandedly raising me could not have been an easy task. Thanks to my dad for the assistance during the trip and for doing his best to scout out typo territory in Hudson, Ohio, and its environs. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone what the “R.” in R. Jerry Deck stands for, because I do want to live until my next birthday.
Benjamin D. Herson
Thanks first to David and Diane Herson for causing me to exist. Oh, and I suppose thanks also for all their tremendous, unwavering love and support over the next thirty years and counting. To Dan Herson, the awesomest little brother a boy could have. To Jenny, about whom I’m thoroughly crazy, thanks hardly begins to suffice; in fact, if someone could invent a better word for love that isn’t so clichéd, I could really use it about now. Thanks to Jenny and my mom for reading through the book and offering suggestions.
Keeping up with Jeff required some serious skills, developed over a long time thanks to an improbably good run of excellent teachers. Most notable for the creation of this book are Teacher Janis (for getting permission to teach me how to read, and for using phonics to do so), my four amazing First Colonial High School English teachers, Mrs. Daugherty, Mr. Kaminski, Mrs. Haring, and Mrs. Antley (really, I was going to be a mathematician before you guys showed me how I could play with language more than I could with numbers), and many more in between. Excellent teachers really do make all the difference. Further sharpening my writing (directly and indirectly) at Dartmouth College were Professors Hebert, Garrod, Pfister, and my thesis adviser Professor Susan Ackerman.
Other assorted thanks: To Borders, both up the ladder where everyone has supported one of their own, and among my many friends (it’s going to be weird knowing you guys are handing off my book—at least you’ll always have something to recommend). To Lisa and Katie for letting me show up early and helping me pull off a fun surprise. Also to the folks at the San Diego Point Loma hostel who helped with my April Fool’s Day typo correction. To Chris Baty for National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo.org), which Jeff and I have participated in annually since ’03, which helped us put in the writing time so that when this opportunity arose, we were ready for it.
More random thanks yet: To Stephen Colbert for what he said about Keith Olbermann on the 11/6/08 show; we sincerely hope that you too will be selected one of Olbermann’s Worst in the World, and we agree that his glaring oversight of not honoring you thusly is as absurd as it is insulting. To Jon Stewart for getting me through eight very long y
ears.
Special final thanks: To Allen White and my whole Unity in Silver Spring family; you always believed. Melissa, Doug, Peter, Justin, and all my amazing Rally friends, there when I needed you most.
About the Authors
JEFF DECK has worked in Washington, D.C., and Boston as an editor. He enjoys speculative fiction books and role-playing games, as well as drawing comics. He grew up in Manchester, New Hampshire, and now lives in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with his girlfriend, Jane. They have zero cats.
BENJAMIN D. HERSON grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia, attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and lived in the D.C. area for seven years. He now lives in Beaverton, Oregon, with his symbiant, Jenny; they are happily unmarried to each other. They work at rival bookstores, read a lot, and have zero cats. He is also an Eagle Scout and a fan of science fiction.
www.greattypohunt.com
Copyright © 2010 by Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. www.crownpublishing.com
CROWN and the Crown colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.