Ever pushed send on an e-mail and then realized you weren't quite ready yet to do that?
Ever done things out of order while cooking dinner - you know, like steaming the asparagus (1 minute) before throwing the roast in the oven (2-3 hours of cooking)?
Ever added the vanilla after the chocolate chip cookie dough was mostly made?
Or . . . pushed publish at CreateSpace before you meant to?
I've done all those things.
And one of them I did just a little over a week ago.
It's true that I had copy edited, proofed, and checked, and re-checked my manuscript at least ten times, but I wasn't intending to push the final "publish" button until I had my ebook formatted, and maybe a book release party set up . . . ok, so I was thinking of going really small on that last part, but I was having some last minute daydreams of grandeur.
And the silly button on CreateSpace wasn't that clear. It didn't say "publish by pushing this," it said "finish with proof." Well, yes, I was finished with the proof. So, I clicked that button. (That's my excuse, anyway)
And my book went live on CreateSpace ten days before I wanted it to, and before I had my ebook ready, before I had anything set other than a request for a shout out for my release party.
Um. Oops.
So, that's bad enough, and then I ran madly around the web trying to throw up last minute blasts about it coming out.
And then, createspace alerted me to 4 spelling errors in my book. Aagh! 4 spelling errors - and in actuality they only caught two spelling errors and two "Tyreanisms" - words that I made up (I like to pretend I'm Shakespeare like that). So, I was in "crazy panic" mode and I fixed them, and re-uploaded the book, and then it went to "processing" which meant that it was no longer on sale after I just told everyone that it was, and I felt like a giant loser/shmuck/doofus/embarrassment to the entire indie community. Or as I put it in a comment on my blog on Sunday afternoon:
It's been a bit of rough go with some foolish moments on my part, and my lack of inner understanding of tech showing like pink underwear under a sheer white pant suit.
So I'm feeling insecure about my own lapses, and at the same time being egotistical enough to think that I'm ruining the whole world for other indie authors - how insecure and crazy is that?
And then . . .at the same time, I'm celebrating Dragonfold and Other Adventures. It's really, actually, definitely, for sure out now. It's a fantasy short story and poetry collection that I enjoyed putting together, and it is partly dedicated to all of you bloggers who have inspired me to keep writing, despite all my faults and mistakes. Thank you IWSG!
Available at Amazon.
Now, really, I'll stop talking about it, and get back to revising Champion in Flight.
Ever make mistakes like I do? Do anything out of order? or Do you keep all your ducks in a row at all times?
