So many things have gone wrong, and continue to go wrong, and I just can't help but wonder if the universe isn't maybe trying to tell me something.
Unfortunately for the universe, I suck at being told what to do. As to which my boss can attest, when I am told to do something, I will—more often than not—go out of my way to do the exact opposite.
So I don't care if you don't think I should publish a novel, Universe. We march on.
Take that, Universe.
After a seemingly successful cover reveal event (thank you, everyone!), I took a good hard look at my proof copies. Turns out, they looked beautiful on the outside but contained far too many errors on the inside. Stupid typos and missing words and simply wrong words—things that should have been caught and corrected long before this point but weren't. I was pretty pissed off about it. I still am, truth be told, but I compiled an embarrassingly long list of needed corrections, sent it off to the formatter (by the way, I do believe I will need to get a second job in order to cover all of my formatting costs), and then ordered a new proof copy once the changes had been made.
It hasn't shown up yet. It really should have. I finally received a tracking number late last night, and according to the post office's website, my package has been sitting two miles up the road since July 10th. This I find to be particularly irritating because I have gone into the post office EVERY SINGLE FREAKING DAY for the last five days (well, except for Sunday) looking for this particular package because it's VERY FREAKING IMPORTANT, and EVERY SINGLE FREAKING DAY for the last five days (well, except for Sunday) I was told that my package WAS NOT THERE.
So I am going to the post office today, and I imagine that yelling will ensue. I know one may get further with kindness than screaming, but as I have previously said, this is a very freaking important package that I could have had FIVE DAYS AGO. I am now five days behind where I should be, and that completely sucks when you're supposed to be seven days out from publication.
But hey, it's cool, right? So cool. So freaking cool. Who needs sanity? I've been sane for a while now, and change is good. (Name! That! Reference!)
Right.
But despite this latest speed bump, it's still quite possible that I can keep my scheduled date, and I am going to keep working toward this goal. As a good friend of mine once said, "Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on." (Name! That! Reference!)
Then, if it gets to be the 23rd and I didn't get to hit that magical and elusive 'publish' button, I'll pick a new date and work toward that one.
Yay.
But it will be the 22nd. It will.
It will.
So if anyone out there is maybe interested in helping with a release day blitz-type thing, or maybe hosting me and all my crazy as part of a blog tour, please let me know either through email (mjfifield at gmail) or in the comments below. I know it's last minute, and a lot of people have a lot of books coming out, and many of you already helped with my cover reveal last month (thank you!), so I completely understand if you can't. But if you might be interested in and/or able to help, it would be much appreciated.
Oh, and one last thing because it's been in my head (and maybe yours too?) since I thought of the title for this post:
Yes, I'm an 80's child, and I'm okay.
Just a little crazy. Crazier.