Brace Yourselves...

...because I am about to go on a petty bitchfest.

A few months ago, my roommate and I signed up to donate a story to a charity fanfiction compilation, the proceeds of which would go to victims of flooding in Australia. It's a really good cause, and we were really happy to do it. So we did. After procrastinating for a month or two, we sat down and pumped out a 33-page alternate ending to Two Captains (our massive PotC fic). We worked hard, often late into the night. But the ending result was wonderful, and we were very happy about the whole thing.

Now that I've received the "official" compilation, I am feeling less happy.

As in, very very very unhappy.

I realize the whole thing is for charity, but DEAR GOD, did they have to mess up our formatting so much? No italics (which can make things more confusing than you'd think), no proper indentation, and every now and then there's a line with only one word on it. Like
this.
Oh, and they screwed up the title too. NOWHERE, and I mean NOWHERE, did we refer to our story as "2 Captains." It is "TWO CAPTAINS." Because when it is spelled "TWO CAPTAINS," it looks less like a pathetic bad-internet-grammar type of story. BECAUSE WE WORKED TOO EFFING HARD ON OUR GRAMMAR FOR THAT!

I suppose I would be less upset about the whole thing if it didn't make us look so... I dunno... unprofessional. I mean, I realize fanfiction itself isn't exactly "professional," (and neither is this post, really) but we have been trying to put a good image of ourselves out there. Especially lately. Part of the reason we're still keeping so connected to that fanfiction is because we're trying to build up a fan base for when we actually have a Real Novel to publish. (And because we're in love with it.) This compilation will not help.

AND WE WORKED SO EFFING HARD ON THE DAMN THING!

Also, we won't be able to post the story (on our own terms, on fanfiction.net) until June. It is going to be like an itch I cannot scratch until then. Driving me bonkers. Rrrgh.


Apart from that, I don't really have a whole lot to say. I finally finished knitting the scarf I've been working on since December, and I started a new one (for my sister) that I'll be working on during the drive to California. (You know, when my mom is driving. I just had this mental image of me struggling to knit at the steering wheel and veering into oncoming traffic.) So... yup. Huzzah for me!

Only about 3 1/2 more weeks to go until we leave. Craaaaazy thought. I've lived in Minnesota my entire life. I've never been more than 2 hours away from my family. We're really close. We get together for every holiday, almost every birthday. Now I'm going to see them, what? A handful of times a year? If I'm lucky?

This is going to be tough.

But we won't talk about that now, will we?

No we will not.


Man, I'm still fuming about those stupid formatting issues. It's petty and bitchy, but hey, I did warn you, didn't I? In the very first entry? I did. You can't get mad at me. You knew what you were getting into.

Thanks a lot, charity formatting committee... *shakes fist*

Grr. Argh.


(EDIT: Can I just say... I feel like a complete ass for getting that upset about minor formatting errors. Perfectionist? Yes. Good person? Not exactly...)