panic attack!
Well, I had quite the scare today! Early this morning, I approved a large & very expensive order for bookmarks to promote my September Desire, WHEN THE LIGHTS GO DOWN. I don't know what possessed me, but a few hours later, I logged into Harlequin's book tracking system, where authors upload information for their cover art. Like I said, I don't know why I even bothered bringing up the site, since I didn't have an Art Fact Sheet due, but now I think a heavenly hand must have been guiding me. Anyway, when I logged on, I noticed that LIGHTS was listed as being an October release. The ISBN number was the same one I had, only I was pretty sure my editor had mentioned she'd moved the book to September. (See the December 19th entry.)Since I was more than a little worried, I e-mailed my editor, only to discover that LIGHTS is not a September release. I don't know when the book got moved back or how the mistake happened, but it really & truly is coming out in October. Which would be fine if it hadn't been for that large & very expensive bookmark order I'd just sent in. So I immediately e-mailed Su Kopil at Earthly Charms (no phone number--curses!) & asked her to use any means necessary to stop the order. A part of me thought the order probably hadn't even been processed yet, since I'd just approved in three or four hours ago...but another part of me worried that once it was submitted to the printer, there was no going back. The next forty or fifty minutes were spent pacing & praying...& not necessarily in that order. But thank God for Su! She's a miracle worker, that's for sure. I finally got a note from her saying the order had been stopped & that I could have the bookmark design fixed, then resubmit the order when I was ready.
Whew! My heart is beating again & my breathing is almost returned to normal. I feel like I dodged a bullet for sure. If I couldn't get that order stopped, my next plan of action would have been to print "October 2005" in teeny-tiny font on label paper & fix the incorrect date by hand...on all ten thousand bookmarks. Ha! My eyes cross just thinking about it.
On a much less stressful note, I finished reading Iris Johansen's FATAL TIDE last week & really enjoyed it. Now I'm reading IN SILENCE by Erica Spindler & HAVE YOU SEEN HER? by Karen Rose.
Now the kitty's crying, so I have to go open a can of moist food. Spoiled brat! :-D
