Did we just get the biggest LUMP OF COAL ever in our stockings?!
We surely DID! Come learn about the business-based disaster that just came our way, what we did to overcome it, and also the Christmas-eve miracle we now get to announce to you!
It’s Christmas Eve and #TeamINSYM is reeling after a digital disaster that came our way this week (2023 just couldn’t come to a close without one more trial for us), but #Tydorius of the #DarkKonquestors needs to slow his roll just a little. We are a resilient bunch and while we may have gotten a preemptive lump of coal in our stockings, followed by swift beating over the head with the ol’ Santa sack, all while Krampus cackled in glee over our misfortune, we DO have some good news to report… but let’s start with the bad news first…
On Thursday morning we were approximately 98% of the way FINISHED with I AM QIDO, our one shot graphic novel that’s the tragic tale of the Empire’s ultimate demise. The key word here is ‘were’. Just after having a discussion with our printer to coordinate some small technical elements, mere minutes later we had a catastrophic hard drive failure on the drive containing ALL the most up-to-date working files for the book.
That’s right. EVERY. SINGLE. ACTIVE. WORKING. FILE. GONE. To say we were crestfallen would be an understatement. At this point we both went into fire drill / disaster recovery mode. What backups did we have? (hint: not enough) What was on share drives? What files were created for editorial purposes that may have been actually been finished versions? What was going to have to be recreated from scratch?!
Without getting too deeply into the details, we did have a few fortunate discoveries that made the 10 alarm blaze turn into merely a… 9 alarm blaze. The situation still sucked, but it was slightly less that we anticipated. But make no mistake, this was going to be a COLOSSAL undertaking.
It was the nights before Christmas eve, and all through our houses, not a creature was stirring, not even the… mouses?… except #TeamINSYM. Over the next three days, nearly nonstop other than for (very little) sleep, we worked to update, recreate, and evaluate every single page for the issue.
Counting covers and additional content, there were just under 100 files to be saved for the printer, and variations of those same 100 (with slightly different formatting) for the digital version. Little by little we chipped away at the workload. Pages were fixed. Files were verified. Brains cells were turned into mush. But the job got done.
All this being said, we are happy to say… (NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS…)
Yes these last few days have been BRUTAL, but nothing was going to deter us from getting this book finished. The Dark Konquestors can retreat back to the hole they crawled out of, because their dastardly plan to sabotage us has failed. The files will be headed over to the printer shortly (and are all backed up)! Some could say it’s a Christmas Eve Miracle, but in this case… nah it was a LOT of hard work. We were not about to let you all down and delay the release. We are super happy with the finished product and we hope you will be as well!
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Moving forward, we DO have some more damage to assess now that the I AM QIDO fiasco has been resolved. We know there are some other items that we’ve lost, and some other work that will need to be redone. We have some ‘best practices’ to immediately employ so that this never happens at this level again (or at least so the potential impact is lessened).
We do want to assure you that NO FUTURE SCRIPTS were lost (we write exclusively on Google Sheets and Docs). Everything for the upcoming SCOUT COMICS Misfitz Clubhouse releases are already in the publisher’s hands, and most importantly, this has minimal to zero impact on HEIRS OF ISILDUR: THE PERILOUS PROSPECTS BOOK THREE: the project or the upcoming Kickstarter campaign.
We are tired. We are exhausted. What would put a HUGE smile on our faces is for you to go FOLLOW the Heirs of Isildur campaign here and also check out our store here ESPECIALLY if you missed out on I AM QIDO’s campaign. You can pre-order it now. You can get the digital Issue #1 sampler, AND there’s a ton of other merch there as well!
That’s all for now. We both hope your Holidays are bright and better than you ever would’ve expected.
Matt & Steph
#TeamINSYM
www.linktree.com/insymmetrycreations
