Lesson Learned...Big Time

Why I’m a writer and not a banker:

From the memoirs of Clueless Linda.

Okay, so I received my first royalty payment a couple months back, right. Yay! Excited me, I went into Paypal where my money had been sent, and from there I electronically transferred the cash into my bank account. Then I checked my account to see if the deposit had been made.

It hadn’t.

So, I waited.

Checked a few days later.

Still no royalty money.

From this point, my wonderful husband who isn’t a spineless, meek coward like his dear wife and isn’t afraid to get a little stern and demand answers, spent an hour and a half on the phone with Paypal and the bank before everyone figured out Clueless Linda (yes, that’s me) put in a 3 instead of a 2 somewhere in her checking account number (or maybe it was the other way around—I can’t recall…I’m clueless here, remember!). So, my first royalty payment EVER was deposited into someone else’s account.

Paypal changed the account number and fixed things on their end, but the money they’d already deposited never did show up in my account. That awesome man I married made a couple more calls, until finally the bank told him they couldn’t take the money out of someone else’s account until that account owner came to them and told them the deposit isn’t theirs.
It wasn’t like this was millions of dollars or anything. Not even thousands. Okay, geesh, not even hundreds.

But HELLO…I’ve never worked so hard for a couple measly bucks in my entire life.

I started my book in 2002, pouring blood and sweat into the rough draft for months. Then rewrote, revised, and edited my heart out. Next, I chewed off all my fingernails as I waited for beta readers to go through it. Then, after bawling over their comments (actually, they weren’t that bad of comments, but I have a somewhat fragile ego), I busted my butt to fix all the mistakes.

After I don’t know how many edits, I started the submission process. Rejections, tears, rejections, tears, rejections…you get the point. Throw in more editing, and that’s how the next five years progressed. Until holy smokes, I sold my story.

Yes, euphoria.

But after selling, there was rewriting.

Next came icky promoting (picture me forcing myself to step out of my nice, shy comfort zone to become an irritating author that pushed her new book in everyone’s faces).

Then the story was released…only for reviews to start. Most reviews were better than I ever expected them to be. But, yeah, not everyone liked my tale, so more stress and tears followed.
From 2002 to 2010, eight long years of toiling, I received my first royalty check at last! Only to lose it because I typed in one wrong number.

Is that crazy or what?

I don’t care if it was only ONE FREAKING DOLLAR, I earned that check more than I’ve ever earned ANY check in my entire life.

So, all I’ve got to say is the person who got my precious money better enjoy every cent.

Seriously though, I have to shake my head and laugh about this. Otherwise, I’d break down and cry (again).

And there is my Lesson Learned for this month. Make sure ALL your numbers are right.