January 14, 2016

• Three gratitudes: 1.—Temps in the 20s; 2.—Finishing up second quarter grades; 3—Old friends
• Exercise: Short morning walk
• Meditation: Prayed a rosary with special intentions for my sons'/students’ final exams
• Random Act of Kindness email: A message
• Journal about one positive experience in the past 24 hours:

My books came in from CreateSpace.  These are the books that I planned on using for my book release celebration.  One of the copies was going to the winner of January's giveaway, so I took it out and signed it, and I happened to flip the pages.  Wasn't I surprised to see that every other page was misaligned with extra space at the page tops and page numbers skimming the bottom edges.  SIXTEEN of the twenty novels were like this!  I was livid and immediately sent a complaint email and then vented to my writing support group.  I couldn't possibly use these books!  After I received a confirmation notice that CreateSpace was in receipt of my message, I searched their FAQs to see if others had this issue.  There was a 24-hour support number.  I called.  Albert, the customer service rep, was apologetic and helpful. He assured me that sixteen replacement books would arrive in time for my event.  I asked if I should return the old ones, and he said that that would not be necessary.  What was I going to do with a box of these poorly printed novels?  Well, I need a container for the raffle tickets, right?  (The result is in the picture.)  Next, I went to my writing support group again to update my vent post, and I saw a comment from a member who is currently reading LINES—.  She wanted to let me know that her copy did not have printing problems:  "I'm on page 81 (and I'm loving this story, Geralyn), and all has been beautiful so far... I got a flawless copy. Put those others aside, though...Folks will clamor to get their hands on a misprint when you are legendary! I hope it ends how I want it to, because I am really caring for Livia here. (Good work!)"  I just love it when a bad situation turns out okay!

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