KIERAN SHEA: The Big Blind

BIO

KIERAN SHEA’s fiction has appeared in dozens of venues including Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Thuglit, Dogmatika, Word Riot, Plots with Guns, Beat to a Pulp, Crimefactory, and Needle: A Magazine of Noir ...as well as in some beefy-looking anthologies most of which will make you question the tether of his shiny, red balloon. To his self-deprecating astonishment he's also been nominated for the Story South’s Million Writers Award twice without sending the judges so much as a thank you note. He co-edited the satiric transgressive fiction collection D*CKED: DARK FICTION INSPIRED BY DICK CHENEY and his debut novel KOKO TAKES A HOLIDAY is out now from Titan Books. Kieran divides his time between 38°58′22.6″N- 76°30′4.17″W and 39.2775° N, 74.5750° W.

5/6/11

The Big Blind

Can anyone tell me why writers are so blind to their own work when editing? Personally, I think this has to do with momentum...that the stories and books are so ingrained in your head that your feeble brain conjures the missing words and forgives the typos and confusing punctuation marks. You read, read, read--hungrily--trying to force the words into a whole sensation and inevitably you trip. This is why it's important to have someone proof your work other than yourself. Being too close blinds. I only bring this us because yesterday I exchanged a proof with another writer and I was POSITIVE I had the piece nailed down. Nope. Grrr. Luckily it's not the final round of proofing, and he's a sharp guy. Onward.