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From: Raymond E. Feist
Date: 03 April 2009

No, most of the typos start with me.   I have a childhood learning disorder called a binocular dysfunction,  which is similar to dyslexia.  It gets worse as I get stressed, tired,  or sick.  Homonyms are the worst.  I literally can't "see" those typos  on the page unless I put away the manuscript and read it slowly a week  later.  Time doesn't often permit.

If my editor can catch them, she does.  If she's rushed . . .  additionally, what used to be done in house by a brilliant copy editor  named Elaine Chubb at Doubleday, is now done by computers.  They can  be programmed to catch a lot of stuff, but there are "exceptions"  which will tend to be place and character names.

Now that I'm working a year ahead, I should have the time to be more  thorough and cut down on this stuff.

Best, R.E.F.

From: Raymond E. Feist
Date: 03 April 2009

Binocular dysfunction is simply a neurological issue where the eyes  are sending data at slightly different rates to the brain.  Looking  back, it's why I could never catch a ball as a little kid; always hit  me in the face or went over my head. Depth perception is a learned  thing; you lose it after about eighteen feet and from then out out,  it's the relative size of things you're brain learns to interpret.  So  i could see a ball coming but about fifteen feet away, my brain  started processing things differently that most people and the ball  would whack me in the face.  The other kids though I just couldn't  catch.

It also makes letters look funny at times, though my brain has learned  after thirty years of touch typing to see 90% of the "funny" the right  way; it's the 10% that still lingers that's drying people nuts.

Best, R.E.F.

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