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This morning I went out to my truck and started my day at O Dark Thirty like always. Don’t know what time O Dark Thirty is? Good for you. I wish I didn’t. In this case it meant I was up a 0430 and out the door by 0450. I do have a day job unfortunately. Something my Wifesty is furiously working on eliminating as we speak. We both want me home working nothing but the Pyrateheart Press.

Why aren’t I? Because we run the business on a shoestring budget and like most small businesses at their one-year mark, we are still in the red. The bills still need to be paid in the meantime. A side note here. My Wifesty works her butt off. She too hasn’t received a paycheck yet. Soon, very soon as the new books take off. As we gather new clients for the other sides of the business too.

That was a hint by the way. Talk us up and let us know who and what you have referred us to and if we get them as clients off your referrals, we will happily share with you. Yes, please share.

Anyways, back to the importance of not f*^king up. By the time I got to my second stop at 0600 I locked my only key inside the truck. As I heard the door click closed, I realized with that sinking stomach feeling my key was still in the ignition. This little lapse of judgement cost me time and effort. Fortunately, I have AAA so I didn’t have to pay, this time.

Now I did have to pay for another f*^k up this evening. I registered a copyright for one of our clients and I made a mistake. One that gave me the rights and not her. A bad f*^k up. So, I settled down and made it right. To the tune of another $100 on top of the original fee of $65. Copyrights aren’t cheap. Necessary but not cheap. Especially if you f*^k up.

It is so important to not f*^k up. But, of course, we all do and when we do, it costs us in money, time, effort, and frustration. I find I do it more often now than ever before in my life. One of those items I am constantly doing to ensure I don’t f*^ up is make backups.

When I started out, I didn’t back anything up. I saved it of course but I never thought to back up the work onto a separate drive or somewhere like that. I don’t use the cloud because I am paranoid. I don’t think it is safe or secure no matter what anyone tells me. 

So, there I was with several folders of projected work and work in progress. And of course, Murphy showed his head and smiled the rat bast*^d. In one of those “Dear God No” moments I lost it all. A surge managed to come through our surge protector and wiped out my laptop. Took everything. A total and complete f*^k up easily managed if I had a backup. Or two. Now I keep three just in case.

There is no way we can keep from f*^king up. No way. We are human and that’s what we do best. I seem to do it with expertise and precision. As I do when I start swearing about such mistakes. I am a world class swear artist. I can cuss with the best of them. I even taught my Wifesty how to cuss like an itinerant sailor. No one cusses better than a sailor except an ex-sailor. Like me.

I know you can’t stop yourself from f*^king up. I wish you could. All I can tell you is to learn from the past and take precautions. Especially with your work. Keep backups. All it takes is a single click of a mouse and Bam! Everything you had is gone. 

And one other thing. Keep a little cash on hand. There are still places that don’t take debit or credit cards. Like the tolls in the Bay Area. They will take cards, but they still like cash. A hard thing to produce when you are stuck in line and no way out. Of course, they simply send you a ticket with a bill that goes against your license. Another f*^k up to learn from.

I’m Ross, The Editor-in-Chief and head F*^K UP at The Pyrateheart Press and I’m out.