remember me?

I missed you all.

I am looking at the cover of my novel, Faking It. It's gorgeous. Eye-catching. Definitely makes you wanna pick it up and start reading.
Then I open the book.
Gobbledegook.
The text is printed in these cryptic characters that looks like Chinese at a first, quick glance.

Last month (yes, this has been going on a month), when I ordered the test copy, I went on Lulu's website to check the sample pages, just to see how it looked on the screen. That was the first time I saw the gobbledegook. Of course, I immediately contacted Help via IM and asked if this was a problem w/ the website or if my book was going to come out this way (I certainly didn't want to spend the money ordering a copy if I was going to get a book full of gobbledegook). They opened the PDF file of the manuscript and it looked fine. I did the same: fine. "Phew!" I said. "Make sure you check that out on your site."

After the whole fiasco w/ the package getting lost in the mail (took me at least two weeks, btw, if not more; I lost track), I had completely forgotten about the incident and about re-checking the site.

Sure enough, it wasn't a technical glitch.

I had to IM them again, and they told me to take a digital photo of the pages and email it to them (fortunately, I had recently bought my first digital camera -- I know, I'm way behind the times -- and had been regretting the expenditure until that moment). I took two photos and sent them, along w/ yet another message explaining the problem. That was Wednesday (or was it Tuesday?). I was supposed to hear back in two days. Today is Saturday. I've heard nothing.

I am trying to attract positive energy to the situation and give thanks (thank goodness I had that camera! thank goodness it's taking a few days -- I've been so preoccupied w/ student conferencing! thank goodness for... -- I've quickly run out); I've been ambivalent about taking the self-publishing route all along and can't help but wonder if this is the manifestation of that ambivalence. I'll tell you, though: after seeing the cover, I'm feeling differently. I mean, wait until you see it. It looks like a real book -- Hell, it is a real book!! That's exactly the kind of negative energy I'm talking about!

So at this point, there's nothing I can do, except wait until Monday. If I get no answer by then, I'm sending another email. And in the meantime, send some positive vibes to me, Lulu, and the book world to receive my novel. It's on its way.