Today I figured out the reason my heart lives in the Middle Ages. Granted, in the 10th-14th C. where I belong, we had our challenges: unsafe drinking water, childbirth, Viking raids, bubonic plague.
All these pale beside the challenges I faced today. I mean it!
To wit: the RT Booklovers' Conference is coming up. They have graciously agreed to make our e-books available to lovers of such media (which ACFW refuses to do, but do not get me started. Not today). To do that, we authors must go into a particular e-book vendor's site and load our title and publisher information.
"No problem!" I say to myself. Aye, me. Naive was I, and oblivious to the pitfalls awaiting me on said e-book vendor's site.
First, I must sign in. No problem. It already knows my name. I go in and click on that. Then it wants my e-mail addy. No problem. I enter it. Then it wants my password. I type my standard "nobody'll ever figure this out" password.
You guessed right. It rejects.
No problem. I shoot them an e-mail under the "forgot password" header. Apparently this happens all the time. They shoot me an e-mail with my gibberish password they created for me, probably eons ago when I allowed such things.
I return to said web site and enter the gibberish password.
You guessed right. It rejects. It says, "you already have an account."
Well, duhh. I feel stupid, but I already knew I had one, thanks very much. I shoot them another e-mail under the "create trouble ticket" header.
It's now 45 minutes later than when I began.
No problem, say I. I shall go tackle a different issue -- creating the postcards I need for each book for said RT conference, upcoming.
I've created postcards on this very popular site before. It was easy as a wink. I upload the .jpg file the publisher's created and sent me just prior to release. I include some back cover copy for the postcard. I click the "approve" box, place the order for my required number of postcards, and voilá! I'm done.
You guessed right. It rejects.
For some reason, the images I used to create postcards a year ago are now "not high enough resolution" to create them now. I try a different version. It rejects.
It's now an hour and a half and a phone call later. The customer service rep was very nice indeed, and she tweaked, buffed, polished, resized, reformatted, and basically did everything she could to my cover image.
You guessed right. It still rejects.
I'm done for today. Methinks it best to head back to the 14th century and mull the aftereffects of the Black Death. Much, much less stressful.
4 comments:
Wow, that sounds super frustrating! I understand people who want to throw their computer out the window. Hey, have you ever read Plague Tales by Ann Benson? Really, really good.
Also so much easier to plot do-or-die situations when the heroine can't just pick up her cell and call the cops.
ROFL! You're both right. Although I suppose my 14th C heroine could call out the armsmen in her lord's retinue...
I have a chuckle at the vision of the aforementioned web sites confronted by a couple of dozen men-at-arms with their steel or leather armor, iron-pot helmets, swords, shields and pikes. "Here! You foul scuts cooperate or we'll know the reason why!"
Renee, I'll have to pick that one up. It does sound interesting. I'm embarrassed to admit how many reference books I have dealing with the 14th century plague outbreak.
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