I'm just about done inputting the layout corrections. But you know that continuity error I thought I found yesterday? Well, it wasn't--I was just confused about how a piece of technology was supposed to work.
A really good rule of thumb to follow as a writer is, If you're feeling a certain way, then your reader is feeling A CERTAIN WAY. So, for example, if you're feeling bored writing about something, then for God's sake, stop and rethink, because your reader is going to die of ennui if they are forced to read another word. And if you're confused about a technology that you invented...well, really, why do you want to put your reader through so much pain?
So I don't look at the above situation and say, Silly me! If only I had read more carefully, I would have realized that this is how the technology works! Instead, I go on in there and add another sentence or two to make clear that, yes, this is how the technology works, don't be surprised when it works this way ten pages later.
It's probably an irrational belief I have, but I do think on a certain level that we all kind of know everything. At least whenever I write or edit, if something nags at me--however vaguely or subtly--and I ignore it, invariably someone else will point that exact thing out as a problem. So I've learned to really tune into that--those are problems to be solved, not the vapors to be ignored.