SquarePeg Books

Back when I was a wee theatre rat, I learned basic carpentry. I also learned that I hated building boxes with a passion. If you are a millimeter off on the lower left front corner, the upper right front corner is at least an inch off. Don’t even get me started on fashioning the lids for that shit.

Why do I bring this up?

No one gets it perfect right out the gate.

But dammit, I’m about ready to shank a bitch.

So Heralds of Change came out, print and digital. A few spelling errors were found. Not a ton, but hey, let’s correct it, because if I don’t it, will bother me.

In between uploading the prior print version and opening the file to make 5 spelling corrections, my publishing package was updated, and I got a newer laptop.

I do my FIVE SPELLING CORRECTIONS. five. Just five. I then try to export the file to PDF for upload.

I get an error message. I have a bajillion text overruns.

What? No, I don’t. I corrected all of those, and nothing showed up in the print proof. I compare the file to the print proof. The print proof is fine.

The digital file on the publishing package is jacked all to hell.

The problem: I can’t save the spelling changes and export to PDF without totally jacking up the “new” version. I have to reformat the whole goddamned file.

As near as I can figure, an update must’ve slightly adjusted the maths on Scribus regarding font size, spacing and margins. Just slightly. By like a third of a millimeter, or something.

Because the first overrun is almost always on the chapter page, and is almost always just one word that has to be moved to the next page. Then more, because you adjusted that page, but that page also had an overrun, maybe. Then by the end of every third chapter, I had to add two blank pages, in order to keep the page formatting straight while dealing with a full paragraph of text that had to move. In total, I had to add in TWELVE, 12!, new blank pages to accommodate the text overruns that weren’t there in the previous incarnation of the software.

In the interest of keeping on top of business tasks, I’ve started updating A Special Blend of Crazy. Just filling in an already existing blank page with other titles by my awesome self. I can’t just upload a new page to Amazon or Ingram Spark or Draft to Digital to update my book. I have to upload a whole new manuscript to add text to this one page that already exists. This page was already there, in the manuscript, in the file. I should not have to adjust ANYTHING.

Save.

Error.

8 million text overruns.

Motherfucker, WHAT!?!

I now have to reformat the first romance novel, page by page, for text overruns that do not exist in the prior incarnation of this software.

I am already mentally unstable.  We know this, I’ve talked about it.

This shit is about to drive my ass over the edge into psychotic rage.