S2: Day 137 (502)
Word Count: 100
Total: 43707

I wrote a short synopsis for a new plotline I got at random. Not that I need more of those. But now I won't forget it.

S2: Day 136 (501)
Word Count: 0
Total: 43607

No words. I did a lot of other kind of work. :D

@Capnmarrrrk that's what I kept explaining to this editor. It totally changed the meaning of all my dialogue along with the flow. Then it got confusing as to who was speaking when.

Well, just asked for rights back. Wish me luck!

Going to enter the editing cave instead of the writing one, I think. Time to start getting things ready for print!

@gwonk Yeah, it's pretty depressing. :( I always tell new authors: this is a long game.

The scammers take advantage of our impatience and desperation to see our name on the shelves.

@misterdevans1 That might be a little too long. Kids can't go to school naked. lol

@poemblaze 😆

@PoliTees I'm so sorry to hear that. :(

@Qapla I think that's also on my list of things to do.

I suppose I should do the laundry...

@PoliTees So true. Which is why I ignored this editor and denied all her edits before sending it back with a note of "Yeah, I'm leaving this as is. Thanks!"

Then I stopped writing for that house.

@PoliTees So very true. And it really shows in some of the things being put out for entertainment consumption today. Few are willing to take risks on "different", and then the "different" is mimicked excessively when those too scared to take that risk see that "different" is successful because it is...DIFFERENT!

My cat must sense that I am stressed. He's very in my business and demanding all the pets.

One more lesson...

When your editor says: "I don't understand your genre" and then later yells at you for not researching enough about a fantasy world that doesn't even exist?

Demand a different editor. Save yourself the headache.

Editing story:

My editor tried to tell me that action and dialogue can't be in the same paragraph. Ever.

"How about now." She laughed.

Was supposed to be...

"How about now."
She laughed.

...according to them at least.😩

I took pictures from multiple Big 6 books showing otherwise and was told that they were wrong. No other authors said anything. They were too busy licking boots.

Lesson 8: Not everyone who says they're an editor can actually edit.

Lesson 9: Stand up for your work!

So that's my story. I haven't actually shared all of this before. Not so publicly. But I hope that it'll shed some light on the process. Not everyone who is a publisher is looking out for you. Not everyone who is a publish is a terrible human being, though either.

Currently, I'm wrestling with so much self-worth issues, I do wonder if it is just ME.

If nothing else, I finally have it off of my chest. Because I was definitely too scared.

Thank you for your time.

THE END

All of this was happening while I was being told how to write by people who didn't know proper dialogue formatting/punctuation and were terrible editors all around. I'll share THAT in a moment.

This lead to the great meltdown and that is why I haven't written much for over a year. I'm definitely emotionally beat. I'm still trying to fight for my rights back on my abandoned baby. No one is making money. Just let me self-pub it and move on, right?

Part Sixteen

I was promised help. Then no response for months. Again. I went onto goodreads and saw that the ebook of my book was published without my knowledge. Another email went out. I demanded rights back. They were denied unless I wanted to pay for all the work that was put into the book (this is standard, so I wasn't surprised, but it was worth a shot!).

But I was devastated. Because my book is out in the world with no support. It was treated like trash.

Part Fifteen

Promises were made and I was feeling better. Then...promises were broken.

I finally emailed and was like: Look, maybe I should just get my rights back and we should move on. Because it seems like a lot is going on.

How am I supposed to have a good book launch without support? I was told that all they had to do was publish the ebook and then all was fulfilled. Which...yes, but I still wanted a successful launch! How can I plan for that? I needed help.

Part Fourteen