The World Conspires Against ME!

I have to admit that I am feeling a bit cranky as I write this..

I started a part time job to keep me fed while I do my writing and suddenly there has been many matters requiring my attention in the past two weeks.  These weren't unwelcome distraction but they did make my writing suffer quite a bit.

First, a friend of mine I hadn't seen in a decade happened to be coming through Omaha on his way to Chicago.  It was great to see him and it was great introducing him to my favorite pig out spots around town and witnessing his acceptance into Wheaten University.  As we said out reluctant goodbye's I suffered a resurgence of a cold I had been fighting the previous week.  I had thought I was on the mend but the evening before my friend's departure I started feeling pain in my ear.  Five hours of agony later the drum finally gave and my ear has been ringing ever since.

With no rest for the wicked I had to forge ahead to the next day as I attended a all day bachelor party for a friend that culminated in final alterations for our tuxedos for the wedding.  The bachelor party itself was pretty tame consisting mainly of bowling and getting all you can eat hot wings.  The bowling was fun specifically because I scored a 174 complete with two turkeys.  It's always fun to rub it in when a legally blind man wipes the floor with the able bodied.  The hot wings were great and helped better than Dayquil at clearing my sinuses.
Still draining like a siv I continued on with the wedding and work the next day.  We had family in for the wedding so there wasn't much chance to recuperate from the cold.  I'm still hacking up a lung and sticking cotton balls in my ear and blowing my nose every few minutes.  Sleep has been a quarry that has proved elusive and despite all the good memories I am generating, I think my long term memory of the event will be better than the short.  Ringing ears, tissues defacement, and projectile coughing for distance is sort of clouding the otherwise smile inducing activities.

Despite all that I managed to give a decent toast at the reception and I think the Catholic church I performed my groom's man duties won't require too much consecration.

Overall great times with the only the slight germ infestation to detract.  The only concern is that I have lots of writing self appointed homework to do and I am still battling to keep up with email and podcast stuff.  So if you are waiting with bated breath to see what's coming out next I apologize.

Missions:
-Work on a few short stories I started on.
-Prep "Prey for Vengeance" for Smashwords meatgrinder.
-Whine unceasingly at Ed and Steve about Prey book 2's cover and edit.
-Work on side project "Digital Divine Intervention" and figure out how to resolve conclusion.
-Call "Ro-Row" and get some details about Moscow living habits and every day sundries.

That's what is going on with me.  /sniffle... /sneeze ... /cough/cough/cough
 

The Ascent From the Valley of Misery

Smashwords Style Guide + Me = Frustration.
(L. K. Campbell + ME) + Smashwords Meatgrinder = Success

Okay so what do these equations have to do with my writing?  Well I have spent many moons bashing my head up against the wall with the Smashwords System.  I read the Style Guide which is very thorough and indeed gives all the information that I needed.  The problem I had was picking out the few things I needed to get my formatting straight.  The Style Guide is good at a lot of things.  Putting up a condensed version of what is required with a quick reference isn't one of them.  Paging through content isn't quick and simple.  I probably should have looked more thoroughly for a quick tip wiki or something similar but I thought I had it done correctly.  I had thought it done correctly twice before I gave up.

In the wake of my evident failure I requested for a list of freelance formatters from Smashwords.com.  The one I picked was L.K. Campbell (http://design.lkcampbell.com/).  I sent her a quck email for confirmation of price and where I might send a payment.  I received a reply in less than half an hour with the work already done with no charge and an explanation where I failed.  I had missed the paragraph spacing and since my story was really short and it wasn't too hard to fix she cut me a break.  Ms. Campbell has earned my future business with quick response and professional approach and more importantly smoothing out the bruise on my ego.  I encourage anyone who is having difficulties formatting their ebooks to visit her site.

Thank you so much for your help Ms. Campbell and when I am ready to format my future works you will be the first I email!

http://design.lkcampbell.com/