What a SCREW UP!!!
October 26, 2006 by Brit Blaise
Filed under Just Chat
I’m not sure of the pub date for Thoroughly Mannerly Millicent…
You might think that’s strange, but not half as strange as the story about why I’m scared to ask. I’ve flubbed up so horribly with TMM. (Thoroughly Mannerly Millicent) After a harrowing weekend trying to set my publishing nightmare right, I was told I’d have the final edits for TMM in a month.
I guess I should share what I did, so you can avoid a similar mistake. (like anyone would really do this)
I pitched Thoroughly Mannerly Millicent to Avalon at RWA conference 2004. I had thirty pages written and the editor asked for the full manuscript. I began writing on the drive back to Phoenix and three weeks later had a finished and polished manuscript, thanks in great part to my critique group…the butterscotch martini girls. www.butterscotchmartinigirls.com
So this is about two years ago…and then I received a contract for the manuscript this August. And while I’m published, everything I’ve done has been via computer. When I read the contract, I realized what I’d sent Avalon two years earlier had been way too short of their required word count.
Why would she agree to buy a book too short?
I got busy and added about 10,000 words and it was still too short. However, I failed to mention to my editor I’d changed the manuscript. I’m thinking…”She’s going to love me for this.” …I’ve gotten rid of the pesky “W” word…was. I dropped those weak verbs with ing endings. I added tags and got rid of he said/she said. And I’ve upped the word count! What a clever girl I am! Those of you who are published are cringing right now.
In the meantime, my editor sent edits…to the wrong addy. I waited until the day before they were due to call her. At this point, we work through the address problem and she emails the edits. Only they aren’t line edits like I’m accustomed to getting …they are done by page number. Do you get the picture?
My page numbers now no longer match hers.
I had to call her back and tell her what I did. I could tell by the tight sound of her voice, I’d suddenly become a big pain in her keister. I promised I’d get them done and in the mail, sent overnight by the next day.
Wait! Where did I put the original manuscript? I’ve moved twice across country in the last two years. I also have a dilapidated Victorian in small town Ohio where I’ve stuck stuff I couldn’t get moved. I’m not too worried because I have an old trusty hard-drive where I’m sure it is. I go hook it up and push the button to power it up and the button collapses. So what do I do?…dismantle the computer or start looking elsewhere. I have five computers…don’t ask. Most all of the new ones don’t take disks, and I can’t find the disk with TMM on it anyway. Eventually I found a version near enough to make sense to me.
Breathing easier…
Until I get a closer look at the edits… and there are a couple of things there I don’t quite “get”. By now it’s well past the end of the workday in NY and my editor didn’t give me her home number.
?
I’d promised to get them in the mail the next day, so I did the best I could. Sent a fax to NY proving I’d sent the package overnight on Friday. In the meantime…I thought I’d send a backup copy on Saturday since Friday’s excursion to the post office was $20.50. Sending the backup on Saturday was less then $9.00.
In my fax, I told the editor she’d find a detailed explanation of the changes in page numbers…”page 109 is now 158″…
Who knew the backup copy could get there before the one I’d over-nighted with my detailed list? The editor said she was just getting ready to email me(again) when the first copy arrived at her office.
A day in the life…
By the way, at the last minute I’ve decided to give away an eCopy of Knights of the Magical Realm: Warrior Gone Wild in a drawing from the comments to this post! November 15th…write a comment and your name will be entered!
Also, It’s Friday afternoon and we’re headed for Disneyland…if you comment and it doesn’t show up…I have to moderate because I didn’t figure out how to do otherwise. I’ll moderate this evening…
It’s now the following Friday afternoon and Tiffany is in the hospital…I knew she shouldn’t have chemo this week with how low her blood count was. I’m at the house with three little kids and without a clue to how she’s doing.
http://britblaise.com/blog/?p=23
What a SCREW UP!!!
I’m not sure of the pub date for Thoroughly Mannerly Millicent…
You might think that’s strange, but not half as strange as the story about why I’m scared to ask. I’ve flubbed up so horribly with TMM. (Thoroughly Mannerly Millicent) After a harrowing weekend trying to set my publishing nightmare right, I was told I’d have the final edits for TMM in a month.
I guess I should share what I did, so you can avoid a similar mistake. (like anyone would really do this)
I pitched Thoroughly Mannerly Millicent to Avalon at RWA conference 2004. I had thirty pages written and the editor asked for the full manuscript. I began writing on the drive back to Phoenix and three weeks later had a finished and polished manuscript, thanks in great part to my critique group…the butterscotch martini girls. www.butterscotchmartinigirls.com
So this is about two years ago…and then I received a contract for the manuscript this August. And while I’m published, everything I’ve done has been via computer. When I read the contract, I realized what I’d sent Avalon two years earlier had been way too short of their required word count.
Why would she agree to buy a book too short?
I got busy and added about 10,000 words and it was still too short. However, I failed to mention to my editor I’d changed the manuscript. I’m thinking…”She’s going to love me for this.” …I’ve gotten rid of the pesky “W” word…was. I dropped those weak verbs with ing endings. I added tags and got rid of he said/she said. And I’ve upped the word count! What a clever girl I am! Those of you who are published are cringing right now.
In the meantime, my editor sent edits…to the wrong addy. I waited until the day before they were due to call her. At this point, we work through the address problem and she emails the edits. Only they aren’t line edits like I’m accustomed to getting …they are done by page number. Do you get the picture?
My page numbers now no longer match hers.
I had to call her back and tell her what I did. I could tell by the tight sound of her voice, I’d suddenly become a big pain in her keister. I promised I’d get them done and in the mail, sent overnight by the next day.
Wait! Where did I put the original manuscript? I’ve moved twice across country in the last two years. I also have a dilapidated Victorian in small town Ohio where I’ve stuck stuff I couldn’t get moved. I’m not too worried because I have an old trusty hard-drive where I’m sure it is. I go hook it up and push the button to power it up and the button collapses. So what do I do?…dismantle the computer or start looking elsewhere. I have five computers…don’t ask. Most all of the new ones don’t take disks, and I can’t find the disk with TMM on it anyway. Eventually I found a version near enough to make sense to me.
Breathing easier…
Until I get a closer look at the edits… and there are a couple of things there I don’t quite “get”. By now it’s well past the end of the workday in NY and my editor didn’t give me her home number.
?
I’d promised to get them in the mail the next day, so I did the best I could. Sent a fax to NY proving I’d sent the package overnight on Friday. In the meantime…I thought I’d send a backup copy on Saturday since Friday’s excursion to the post office was $20.50. Sending the backup on Saturday was less then $9.00.
In my fax, I told the editor she’d find a detailed explanation of the changes in page numbers…”page 109 is now 158″…
Who knew the backup copy could get there before the one I’d over-nighted with my detailed list? The editor said she was just getting ready to email me(again) when the first copy arrived at her office.
A day in the life…
By the way, at the last minute I’ve decided to give away an eCopy of Knights of the Magical Realm: Warrior Gone Wild in a drawing from the comments to this post! November 15th…write a comment and your name will be entered!
Also, It’s Friday afternoon and we’re headed for Disneyland…if you comment and it doesn’t show up…I have to moderate because I didn’t figure out how to do otherwise. I’ll moderate this evening…
It’s now the following Friday afternoon and Tiffany is in the hospital…I knew she shouldn’t have chemo this week with how low her blood count was. I’m at the house with three little kids and without a clue to how she’s doing.
CoffeeTime
Cave Creek Cowboy: Count on Three
AMBER ALLURE
AMBER QUILL PRESS
A Sure Thing
Out of Space
The Blood Club
Well, you live and learn…lol!
Thanks for posting this. Certainly good advice for any author. But whatta nightmare!! Hope all goes well for you and the release of your book.
Brit, my son has a saying, “It’s all good”, and this is. It’s all going to work out. Just in case, I’m sending a lot of good vibes and hugs to you.
Oh, my! Your poor thing!
Although after reading your story, now I’m even more worried about the contract revisions I just asked my editor for (first book) – I’m afraid I’ve also become a pain in the keister as you so eloquently put it.
Oh well, you know the saying… if you can’t be a good example, at least serve as a warning. 
Congratulations anyway – you made a sale and that’s always a good thing!
That’s one reason why I’m saving all my manuscripts by date, thanks to a flash drive, tons of memory there.
Plus, I’m saving those contest entries as well, ten pages to that contest. (I deleted a scene to end on a hook.)
Twenty pages + synopsis to that contest.
You get the drift. I only have two computers, but still have mislaid a disk.
Since my laptop didn’t have a floppy drive, I bought one at Wally World and managed to hook it up. So…I can still use diskettes on those manuscripts that haven’t been moved to the laptop.
I feel for you.
Oh I am so sorry for the problems but I have faith that after all is said and done it will be worth all the hassle you went thru.
Brit:
You’ve lived Murphy Law in great detail on this publishing trip. But, take a deep breath and write another manuscript to focus on your writing future as you’ve learned from this merry-go-around and won’t do it again. The next one will go smoother for you.
Thank you for sharing this problem so others won’t make the same mistake! That was bravery in action.
Cherie
Sorry you had such a screwed up day!
Hi Brit!
Most readers, like myself, probably have no idea what authors go through to get the final product finished and published!
I hope everything goes smoothly from now on!
It sounds like an author’s nightmare story, which fits in right now with Halloween. But they accepted it? Thoroughly Mannerly Millicent will get published?
Hang in there. Life happens. Fortunately for you it all worked out. I burn a cd of all my books and keep the backup in my file cabinet.
Good luck with TMM
Donna
I am sorry you are having publising nightmares, but congratulations on getting your book accepted.
I am currently waiting for edits on three manuscripts, and I cringe thinking what is the worse happens, or something similar to what you struggled through. One reason why I get paranoid and backup everything on two computers and a flashdrive. One manuscrip is with Forbidden Publications. The other is with Silks Vault. And last but definitely not least with Loose-ID. I think we all have a few horror stories to share, yet the final outcome is what we aspire to and that is producing a published piece of work. Congratulations on yours!!!!
Wow you were doing what you thought was best. Hang in there
Wow! Someone with more computers (and more potential for misplacing files) than myself!
I think this is definitely a hall-of-famer, and I devoutly hope it’s all smooth sailing from here on out. Knock-on-virtual-wood…!
Sandra, that’s nice to hear from an editor’s POV. I love emails too! And I’ve never had problems with the eBook publishers I write for. Thanks for the mega hugs!
Brit
Brit, OMG…I worried if you’d be able to find the page numbers when you sent a note to the critique group talking about having changed the manuscript after sending it to Avalon. But I’d totally underestimated the size of the “situation” you had on your hands…although, I should have known. I didn’t hear about the bad address and the backup copy arriving first. However, this is Brit we’re talking about here and although your life seems to derail from the fast track quite often, you always hit your feet running and manage to turn that pile into sweet lemonade. So I just know that next call about the comedy is going to be a good one and, in time, your sparkling personality will win your editor over again just like it does for your critique partners every time we see you. Hang in there and thanks for the laugh. You just couldn’t make this stuff up.
Kayce
I’m sorry to hear about your problems!! Yes, you are right. It should help other writers in the future. But I think things will get better. Hang in there and don’t let you get you down. In everything there is a purpose; we just don’t know what the purpose is until after the facts. My prays are with you and I know that you will make it.
Thanks Brit. I hope the rest of your experiences are excellent. I’m unpublished, and reading others’ experiences are a definite plus for me. Penny
I’m sorry your having such a tough time. I think you did what many of as writers fear or have already done in some other way. Everything will work out just fine. At least you’ll know what not to do in the future, and I’m sure someone working on a manuscript right now will take your words to heart and remember your mistake when they get that contract.
Sorry the problems happened but you did the best you could and gained something from it. Here’s wishing everything will go smoothly from here on out.
Oh my goodness! I haven’t done any print contracts, I feel so bad for you! Thank you for letting the rest of us know, it does serve as a wonderful warning as to what to look out for.
Big hugs! Hang in there!
Cassidy
Ouchie.. that has got to suck rocks.. but it sounds like you are going to muddle though it one way or another. =)
Thanks for sharing this story, Brit! Maybe your next story should be a story about an author fighting a tight deadline…
OMG!! This sounded more like a frigging nightmare!! You poor thing! See, this is why I won’t even attempt to write…my nerves can’t handle the stress! *L* Hope the next one goes better!
Oh, Brit, it’s lovely of you to turn your painful experience into a learning experience for the rest of us. Here’s hoping all thsee cyber-hugs balance out the whole thing!
First off I have to congratulate you on getting your manuscript accepted for publication and look forward to one day reading Thoroughly Mannerly Millicent. (p.s Love the title) Might take a while before it reaches us in South Africa though … *lol*
On the rest I can now understand what pressures authors are sometimes put through. As a reader these things are never thought of and we just demand that our authors publish more and more, without realising what you and the rest of the other authors go through constantly to get the final product to us. So thank you for highlighting your experience. I beleive your dedication will see you through this.
As the saying goes: “… Success is failure turned inside out – The silver tint of the clouds of doubt, And you never can tell how it seems so far; So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit; it’s when things seem worst that your must not quit” I expect TMM will be a success!
Hi Brit. What a nightmare. Having two boks pubbed with the same house I could have/should have warned you about the page edits. My almost nightmare with them was with my second book. I finished the required edits, e-mailed the file to Kinko’s for printing. Then my computer crashed and burned. They couldn’t retrieve anything. I had no back-up, no discs, nothing. Thank God Kinko’s had received my file. I was sweating bullets when I put the manuscript in the mail. If the post office lost it–like they’ve done with partials–I would have been royally screwed and in violation of contract because I would not have had a book to turn into them. As it is today, the only copy I have of that manuscript is in book form. So fellow writers always have a back up somewhere.
Lindy, yes, I agree. Very harrowing! Christmas and pregnancy, what a lethal combination!
Right now we are in Indigo CA. The baby decided it was time to stop for the night. So a quick pass thru Del Taco and on to Comfort Inn Suites. The kids are jumping on the third bed, the baby is eating and I’m ready to go to sleep…goodnight.
Brit
You poor thing, but everything will work out in the end, or so thet say.
What I would like to know – who is they. LOL
Keeping fingers crossed for you.
Disneyland was fun, but exhausting and it seems we are now paying the price.
Payton came home with a fever and Tiff now has one too.
To make matters worse, we were told if her blood dropped below 75, they wouldn’t give her chemo. It’s 71 and they gave it to her anyway. Now, we are on pins and needles hoping it doesn’t drop another thirty points in two-week’s time. And to make matters worse she insists on watching the heart-wrenching dying-of-cancer scenes on Guiding Light.
Right now I really need a reason to smile…
Oh, Brit! it sounds like you are having a really hard time of it. My deepest sympathies. I hope everything improves for you from this point forward. be sure to keep us all updates, y’hear? Good luck & best wishes!
I started this thread on October 26th, so it’s been two weeks. My editor…I like saying that, despite the fact I’ve had several now,…my editor said she’d call in a couple of weeks. However, no offense, but I think NY editors have a different way of calculating time. I’m not complaining or criticizing, it’s just an observation.
If she would’ve called last week while I was undergoing an emotional meltdown…I shudder. Anyway, I imagine the second time-schedule she gave me of about a month is more realistic. And, all in all, with the trials of my daughter’s cancer, my mind is often otherwise occupied.
Brit
Tis the way of life to throw you lemons… so make lemonade!! May yours taste sweet an things calm down…
OMG!! You need cyber hugs for sure. What a hellofa day/week that was. I’m sure the book is going to be a Best Seller!
You obviously are very successful because that’s what seperates the “will be’s” from the “wanna be’s”.
hmmmmm what are my chances of winning a good book (excuse me) a great book, from a wonderful lady.
Dang did I say lady? Knowing you is to love ya.
wow That sounds like a classic fubar with the manuscript. Hope all is completely straigtened out now. Glad you liked disney world. And hope the chemo and blood counts is alright. And that she gets betters fast and definitely off chemo asap. Wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.
Ok, so things screw up some times, it happens to the best of us. To everyone at one time or another. I always try to fix it if I can, if not then at least I tried. Life goes on. I don’t let it bother me, and you shouldn’t either. Life is too short. Be HAPPY!
I want to thank everyone for this great response. Congrats to Rita for winning the contest and stay tuned for more.