Indie Woes

Hi All!

I've been working on making my first two novels available in hardcover through Amazon. I only just realized this was possible a few weeks ago. And let me tell you, it isn't a simple matter of just uploading the same file I used for the paperback and E-version. No, of course not! That file has too many pages for the size I'd chosen - imagine that.

So I chose the next size up, found a pre-formatted word file for that size and did a Copy/Paste from the current file to the new one. Annnnnd that simple change messed up the formatting. So I've been proofing and fixing The Farmer's Daughter for the past few days. One little change leads to another.

And another reason why I hate proofing and formatting is I get caught up in the story. Even though I've read through it a bazillion times, I'll see the words and go 'oh, I love this part...' I lose more time that way than any other.

But I have managed to finish the file for Farmer's. I have Amazon working on a physical proof copy for me even though I ALSO need a newer file for the book cover, I have the order put in for that as well but for the time being I have a temporary cover cobbled together through Amazon's 'Create a Cover' program.

I don't know that a hardcover version is actually needed, but the last three books I've managed to buy recently have been hardcover so I know there's still some kind of market for them even though they're more expensive. I love the convenience of Ebooks, but I also love the feel of either a hardcover or paperback in my hand.

I know, I know. I should be focusing on the 3rd book in the series. I swear though, my husband has some kind of radar that detects when I'm trying to work on anything related to my writing and for some reason he thinks that's a good time to need me to do something else. And it's never anything FUN. Never anything ROMANTIC. Always something else.

Like, 'have you researched health insurance yet?' or 'have you ordered a new camera for the security system?' He has NO idea that these are not simple tasks. Ugh. I know we need to so something for health insurance. The crap we have through work is NOT good. I just dropped over $200 at the drug store the other day, for 4 prescriptions. And I have more than 4 total prescriptions (I'm a hot mess, remember?)

At any rate, I'll be switching to The Ring of Fire files so I can do the same for it. Since Bigger than the Beetles is still 'not quite done' hopefully that won't be quite as frustrating.

Keeping it short and sweet for now.

Until next time, stay safe peeps.

Robin Janney

Two Steps Forward...

 And one step back. That's how the old saying goes, right? Or is it one step forward and two steps back? Or maybe, the farther ahead I get, the farther behind I fall?

That last is the sentence I've expressed to my husband most frequently the past couple of months. I'm not sure why I thought changing to a local driving job would make my life easier, because I sure was wrong. When we were being recruited, we were told that most of the runs would be 10-11 hours or less, and in the beginning they were. But as the company has been growing and adding runs, more and more we're being stuck with runs that come close to running our 14-hour clock out.

For those who don't know, a truck driver has two clocks they need to be mindful of during their day. A 14-hour clock, which is the amount of time we can be On Duty - from the time we 'clock in' to the time we 'clock out' for the day. During that time period, we can only drive on the roads for 11-hours, the other clock we have to be aware of. Driving on customer properties don't count against the 11-hour clock if we remember to change the status on our log. A local driver can utilize a 3rd clock once a week if needed, and that would be a 16-hour clock - which only adds to how long we can be considered on the clock, but not to how many hours we can drive. Twice now I've been pushed into using that 16-hour clock, and both times due to circumstances beyond my control I was illegal. One day was almost 17 hours long, so I took the next day off.

Honestly, I was doing fair before that first 16 hour day. I say fair because I've been struggling with torn cartilage in one of my knees since before that.  I get a cortisone shot this afternoon to tide me over until my crappy health insurance can get around to authorizing a different shot treatment. "Fair" may be a slight exaggeration, but even though I was in pain I still had energy and wanted to do things. Ever since that first too long day, I've been plagued with low energy. It may have more to do with the pain in my knee, but for whatever reason I connect the fatigue to that day.

I've been struggling with writing, formatting, and remembering things. I'm still not sure what I wanted to talk to Mr. Janney a few days ago, but hopefully it wasn't anything important. That could be brain fog, but who knows?

My endocrinologist has been changing and adjusting my meds, so it's possible that none of this has anything to do with work - or not as much. Because let's be honest, the hours they work truck drivers are a bit insane. But anyways, the Endo added a thyroid med, changed one of the shots I take for my diabetes and when that failed to do as good of a job, she added another. I legit have a string of alarms in my phone to remind me when to take my meds...and I still forget the shots once in a while. I am one hot mess!

But I keep plugging away. I have no choice! Life keeps demanding my attention.

That's enough venting for today. I've been quiet online recently because no one likes a whiner, even when the whiner has legit reasons for their whining. But I refuse to sugarcoat things online because I believe in being 'real' online. Bites me in the butt sometimes, but hey - that's life, right? I don't believe in sharing everything, but when I do share I want it to be honest. As honest as I can be when I self-edit my language and eliminate all the 'lols' I want to add...lol!

If you're reading this, then I've decided to hit publish. I'm not sure yet, especially since at this point I don't have any photos thrown in to catch the eye and break up the reading blocks. Pictures are always so much work to add in because for some darn reason they mess up the formatting and I have to work harder to fix it...which, if you're reading this, I gave up and the goofy formatting errors around the Shutterstock photos will just add to the charm today!

Stay safe, my peeps.