Monday, January 23, 2012

When You Just Can't Do Any More

Had a busy week last week, and a busier weekend. I've not written a word of fiction this new year. I'm kind of freaking out about that. I spent some time doing more book cover stuff this weekend though, worked at my day job (on a Saturday!), cleaned the house (looks good) and tried to get a copy of my unpublished novel printed (via Lulu) and sent to me to do another read through to see if I want to do some more revisions to it.

That last thing, about my novel, it looks like Lulu crashed while I was just finishing up. I had all the interior formatting looking good, the cover looking sweet (a vanity thing, that's all) and just as I was about to hit submit the stupid thing crapped out on me. I tried to log back in and it sent me all the way back to an earlier part of the process. I was very disappointed. So I quit and went back to working of more covers.

So, as it stands, you know what bothered me more than anything else I did this weekend? I attended my son's football banquet on Friday night. While there I had to stand in line for an hour for my food. Then I got to the front after all that only to find that they were out of salad, out of potatoes, out of bread, and out of Chicken. Yes, I paid a lot of money to stand in line and eventually eat a macaroni and cheese dinner.

Then, after all the eating was over and the whole night was getting close to being over, I had to run to the restroom. What did I see as I passed the kitchen? Pans full of chicken, all cooked, on the warming burners, and right beside the pans of fully cooked potatoes and bread. WTF?

Turns out, they had a bunch of stuff cooking that wasn't ready until dinner was over and we had to start the festivities. I suppose the cooks all got to take the food home with them... food I paid for.

Sigh. Whatever. I'm being a poor sport I know. I suppose I just had to vent a tad. A mood appropriate for Monday.


17 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

You should've snagged a piece of chicken and ran!
Sorry about the site crashing before you finished. I'm sure it wasn't you.

PT Dilloway said...

I haven't written any words this new year yet either, except for editing old words.

I used CreateSpace for my novels because when I tried uploading to Lulu it crapped out on me too. I don't think there's a huge difference between them except that CreateSpace is through Amazon so it's easier to link your book to their site.

Rusty Carl said...

Mine is just a vanity copy. I was thinking I would give it a read through in a new format and see if glaring errors appear that I missed before. If I ever decide to self pub it I'll use Create Space.

David P. King said...

Don't fret, dude. I'd feel the same way if I paid for a big banquet and got stuck with scraps. You don't mess with this guy when he's hungry.

I gave you a shout-out on my blog today! :)

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Oh stop fussing with your book. Move on to the next project.

Deborah Walker said...

That's outrageous. I'v never known a buffet to run out.

Luanne G. Smith said...

I think you need to write a short story about a father who takes his revenge for being left chickenless at a banquet by publishing a scathing tell-all on Lulu. :))

Cindy said...

I would be annoyed about the chicken too...especially waiting in line that long and paying for it.

I also wish I had more time too. Sleeping less doesn't work either. I don't write very well when I'm tired.

Andrew Leon said...

Well, you took that better than I did. I actually would have hunted soemone down and made an issue of it. But I'm just contrary that way.

I understand not going back through the whole book thing. I hate when that kind of thing happens. I get it with email and used to get it with blogger (a lot). Eventually, I got smart and started saving my documents on my computer before trying to post them (or just save them) on blogger.

Oh, and just to say it, you can get "vanity" copies through CreateSpace, too. They call them proof copies and aren't very expensive.

M Pax said...

I'm stuck on a scene where I have to be clever & I've come up with nothing clever.

Wow, almost a dinner with no dinner.

Brinda said...

Man, I'm sorry. You should've shimmied into the chicken and fixed a plate. lol .:( I hope this week is better!

Trisha said...

That would really have peed me off, the food thing!

The Lulu thing would have REEEEEAAALLY peed me off. ;)

Angela Scott said...

I'm so sorry. That sounds like a miserable weekend. BUT, as far as the banquet goes--it's not about the food. It's ALL about your son. You have to remind yourself of that. Hard to do sometimes when you're eating macaroni and cheese. But even if all they gave you was water and a roll, you'd still go to be there to support him.

As far as the Lulu thing goes, that just blows chunks. So sorry. It's okay to vent. People are like teapots. If we hold it in too long, we will explode.

I wish you a much better week :)

Shallee said...

Ooh, I would have been mad about the food! Granted, I'm pregnant, so anything to do with food gets me fired up...

I'm sorry about the weekend frustrations, though. I hope you can get your book onto Lulu soon!

Briane said...

All that and that's all the complaining you can muster? Just missing out on dinner alone would give me about three weeks' worth of indignation. You're either very restrained or not up to my champion level of entitlement.

Don't beat yourself up about writing or not writing. You're DOING STUFF, so that's what's important. Unless you're doing stuff to avoid writing, in which case you should definitely sit down and think "why am I not writing and opting to do these other things, instead? Am I actively avoiding writing?" Really examine your feelings.

And, you should definitely take psychological advice from some nutjob who leaves comments on your blog.

What's this unpublished book? After how good Dead God was, I want to see more!

Anonymous said...

I agree with Alex - grab and run. What are they gonna do? You didn't steal it, you paid for something you didn't get. I'd have asked for a refund... okay, maybe I wouldn't have, but I would have pissed and moaned.

paulandlou said...

Well, this is a sad tale. I might at least mention it to the people who charged you the money. They can at least try to prevent it from happening NEXT year. And if you write a letter or email, you might feel better too.