Norris and the joy of proofreading

SHARON — If you’ve found a typographical error, a misspelling, a grammatical faux pas in Mary Norris’s new book, “Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen,” you don’t need to tell her. She already knows. That’s the trouble with publishing a book about copy editing and proofreading; everyone wants to share with you the fruits of their own edit of your book.

Norris doesn’t mind. As a longtime professional editor, at The New Yorker (famously one of the most tightly edited publications in the history of publishing), she of course wants her book to be perfect. 

But one of the lessons that she imparts in her book is that people need to relax just a bit. Errors do creep in sometimes, even in The New Yorker. It’s OK.

During an interview last week with The Lakeville Journal, Norris revealed herself to be fun and funny (not qualities that one always finds in a copy editor/proofreader). She’s personable and friendly, and is looking forward to signing copies of her book at the annual fundraiser for the Hotchkiss Library of Sharon on July 31 — along with other authors including Henry Kissinger, thriller writer Joseph Kanon, food editor/writer Dana Cowin and musician Steve Katz (one of the founding members of both Blood, Sweat & Tears and The Blues Project). 

It’s a diverse group. Sometimes it’s easy to understand how these nationally famous people end up at the little library on the Green in Sharon. Some are local, such as Kissinger and Katz (who live in Kent) and Cowin (who lives in Amenia). 

Other authors know someone local or someone who has come to the booksigning previously. For Norris, one connection is author Claudia Roth Pierpont, who has signed at the library in the past and whose daughter, Julia Pierpont, is also one of the authors on the list this year.

When the library called her this year to see if she’d like to come, Norris said, “It sounded like fun and I was delighted to be invited.”

Some authors come up with a clever quote or a particular graphic look and use it in each book that they sign. Norris is still signing each book individually, often after chatting with the person on the other side of the table. 

“I like meeting people and talking to them,” she said. “I tend to write something for the individual person, for instance if someone says to me, ‘My mother taught English.’

“I do say to people that it’s much easier to sign the book than it was to write it.”

For the first few signing events that she attended after publishing her book, Norris used to bring a case full of the special pencils she likes to use (one chapter of the book is titled, “Confessions of a Pencil Junkie”). She prefers a pencil with soft lead, and her favorite is the Palomino Blackwing. 

At a convention in New York City, however, someone stole her pencil case (which also had notes and business cards in it). After a brief period of being very upset, she decided that, “I was being too precious about it, so I stopped making a fetish of signing in pencil. I still bring a few with me but I will sign with anything anyone gives me. And some people do prefer ink.”

Whatever your preference, if you would like to meet Mary Norris and have her personally inscribe a copy of her book, come to the Hotchkiss Library booksigning on Friday, July 31, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the library. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased at the door or in advance, at the library.  Books by all the authors will be sold (Visa and MasterCard are accepted). For a full list of the authors, go to www.hotchkisslibrary.org.