Nightmares Come True

So, to put things bluntly, one of my biggest fears doing self-publishing is having a book’s formatting all jacked up. Like a missing chapter, a duplicate chapter, or the file being completely blank despite me looking through it and approving it. In the case of Aarde, the file was not blank, but one chapter was missing, and another chapter was duplicated. I got this fixed, but now the book is off the shelf until the new format is approved by me. Again. It only took three tries because when one problem was fixed, another was discovered. So, I had to pull it back fix it, and repeat. It is a good thing the file edits are free for the first 60 days or else I would have been sinking a lot of money into something that could have been avoided if my four eyes and partially damaged brain worked properly. Only God knows how many times I skimmed this book file, so the fact that this blunder happened was the low point of the week.

The sucky part is that there was one copy already sold, so someone got a really janky book. I won’t blame them in the slightest if they get a refund. Because what happened was really dumb. And as the one responsible for said book, I have to take responsibility and say, “I messed up” and fix it. Which again, I fixed it as soon as I realized what happened.

Now, the only reason I found out about this atrocious blunder was because I felt a strong compulsion to work on one of the versions of Aarde. This one being the one without pictures and appendix. That saved a lot of pages and is considerably cheaper. But while I was transferring files, I noticed that a chapter was missing, and it all went downhill after that.

Luckily it was all fixed and ready to go by today, but still. It was a terrible feeling.

But the good news is that Bowker and Copyright Office information has been submitted and paid, so Aarde will be solidified in due time. It usually takes a couple of months of the Copyright Office to fully process stuff, but since it is now in the system, I am not worried.

Other than that, nothing happened between this post and last post. I was chipping away at Winter 9 and The Academy of Irregular Defense, but really nothing substantial was gained. The big part of this is due to stress from the combined $40,000 (rounding up) in needed repairs to the house. The repairs are technically upgrades, but with the windows and siding rotting out, this had to be done unless I wanted to see the house fall apart with worse damage and bigger bills.

The upside to this is that I am getting a raise at work. I finished the evaluation at 93%, which is actually 2% less than last year (I blame it on my appearance). That 2% needs to be fixed for the next evaluation since I don’t like the idea of dropping in quality. On that note, I don’t know what my raise will be because they not only didn’t tell me what it was, but it takes two weeks minimum for the raise to fully process in the payroll system. So, I’m a little bit antsy on that.

I do believe the stress will be alleviated somewhat if my raise is good, and I already told the upper management that I was interested in switching to a different department. This department supposedly pays more, but I’m also the only one who runs my current department. It literally goes to crap when I dare to go on vacation. So, I’m wondering if they will allow the transfer or offer me more wages, despite said department from team leads to crew wanting me to join their team. The upper management has been quiet about this request, and when I asked personally, they admitted they hadn’t thought about it. I took that as a bad sign, but it’s God’s will what happens, not mine. Whatever happens, happens.

And building off the transfer request, there is some nervousness in it. The position I’m going for would put me under someone else, and I’ve been running my current department by myself for a while, so I’m used to being my own boss; that part shouldn’t be problematic since I have been in a wide range of positions. However, this department will be completely different to what I am used to, and the last thing I want is to be bad at the job. The boss of the department in question is confident that I’ll do fine, but still. It is a worry that I have.

So, I’ll figure out what happens with wages and transfers in due time. And unfortunately, this is all I have for you. I still have to post a review of The Menu, so I’ll have to make a note to do that, as well as work on my amazing list of stories that make me wish I had a clone to help me write this stuff.

I’m going to make some grilled cheese now. You guys and gals take it easy. Good day. God bless. Peace!

(Music for you)