I'm really angry

[rayvyn2k]

edited to add, I received a most kind and EXTREMELY gracious email from Metamuse which cleared up a lot of my misunderstandings about the validation email I received earlier which I then went off the handle and ranted about here. I am not deleting the entry because I was wrong and I am willing to admit it. I want to apologize to Metamuse and everyone at SH. I will remember how wonderful you all were to a raging lunatic and not be so damned touchy about things in the future.

Got an email from SH today..."correcting" several "errors" in my latest chapter. Now, this chapter has been checked by my word processing program spell-check and grammar check and was beta-ed twice.
There were a couple of things which needed correcting, especially my non-capitalization of "Mudblood" which neither I, nor my betas caught. I am going to have to correct that in my MS Word program so it will auto-correct that particular word.

So, I'm wondering if this has anything to do with my question to them last night regarding validation. This is the FIRST time I have had any chapter sent back to me with ANY corrections since a few canon corrections they asked for in the first chapter. Not to mention, I fucking WON FIRST PLACE in their damned Spring Faire contest...wonder how THAT happened if my punctuation is so bad???
Obviously I was out of my mind. The one had nothing to do with the other.

I'm really pissed off. This is NOT the way to start the day.
I am better now, the day is going quite well, as a matter of fact. I'm wearing my GoF hat and my "Marauders" t-shirt, my HP watch and I brought my HP lunchbox to work today. Getting lots of comments and lots of chances to squee about the book!

I fired back an email with the above (without the cursing and without the last sentence) and now I'm waiting for a reply. If they insist, I may just have to pull the story and all of my other stories from that archive. This is a petty revenge response, in my opinion.
Hey, I know my writing isn't perfect, but there's NO WAY that more than six punctuation and/or capitalization "mistakes" were missed by me or my betas.
Again, I can only plead temporary insanity. And I did delete my final, arrogant "Fuck them, I'm pissed. It was uncalled for and I should know better than to write in this thing when I'm mad.

The latest chapter is live at SH:
http://ashwinder.sycophanthex.com/viewstory.php?sid=4732

Comments

[snegurochka_lee]

It's OK, sweetie. *pets you* Don't pull your stories. I really think they are a good archive, and the admins work hard to ensure absolute top quality over there. I know others have been bothered by their correction-suggestions as well, but... hmm.

Are the mistakes they suggested correcting not, in fact, mistakes? If you can argue the point that they are wrong in asking you to change something that is not a mistake, then absolutely, you should do so. If they think something is a mistake, and you don't... yes, that's a problem you should ask for clarification on.

But please don't take it personally, or assume it's a grudge thing because you had just inquired about validation status. And I only say this because I love you, but don't assume that just because you won that (well-deserved!) award, all your writing in the future will be perfect!

I almost never have a chapter/fic accepted with no changes. *shrugs* I consider them a secondary beta for me, and I appreciate how thoroughly they go through submissions, to catch small mistakes I had missed.

In sum, you're entitled to your POV of course, and I'm sorry you're upset, but don't let it ruin your day! It happens to all of us; I really, really don't think it's a personal thing against you.

*hugs* ~Lee