Rae Bridgman: Hello, my name is Rae Bridgman. Rae, with an E at the end, and Bridgman, with no E in the middle. Although you may want to spell Bridgman with an E, resist the temptation.

I'll tell you a small story about proofreading and my name. On the day I held my very first copy of The Serpent's Spell in my hands, I was so excited. I showed everyone in the family my new, beautiful, glistening book. One of my daughters, who was 14 at the time, gave me a big hug of congratulations. She looked at the front cover, the back cover, the spine. Her expression changed.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

She pointed to the spine of the book, wordless. I looked. The name Bridgman was spelled B-R-I-D-M-A-N. No, there was no irresistible extra E there. Instead, there was a G missing in action. No one had caught the mistake! Not publisher, not editor, not marketing director, not designer, not proofreader, not production team.

My daughter regaled the audience at the book launch with the tale of her sharp eyes. It had taken her all of two seconds to find the mistake. She had everyone laughing when she said the books in the first print run would all become collector's items.

The lesson from all this. I had been able to proofread the front cover and the back cover, but had not seen the spine prior to production. Now I ask to proofread everything. A big part of being a writer is also being an editor and proofreader, no matter what you write. Double, triple, quadruple, quintuple check it. Even your very own name.