sick and watching movies

Well I got sick, I don't know if it was from the pressure of work or my feverishly trying to promote my book, but I have a cold. So I have put everything on hold right now.

So I will have to wait to find out about the book signing till I can talk without coughing and sneezing. I will have to wait to find a venue for my book launch till I can sit for more then ten minutes and not cough and sneeze every time I speak to someone about it.

So I am sitting in my bed watching movies on HBO and Cinemax for free this weekend. I am enjoying the movies though I think I went through a whole box of Kleenex and have spent two days either in bed or the bathroom. (sigh)

I watched a movie called Marley and Me. I really enjoyed it and it reminded me of my own little furry sister Duchess. I got Duchess on my tenth birthday. I was home sick (ironic) and my Dad brought home a bundle of fur. My Mom had said no more pets because we lost three in a row for different reasons, so my Dad knocked on the front door put this adorable bundle fur in my Mom's hands and said "Here, turn her out into the snow" Knowing my Mom would never, ever do that.

My Mom smiled up at me on the stairs with the cute little puppy and said, "I guess we have a dog."

We named her Duchess, she was the sweetest best dog in the world. She loved everyone. She only barked at three people in her whole life, and with what turned out to be great taste. She traveled from New Jersey back home to California on a train. She loved it and everyone loved her. The conductors knocked on the door and asked, "Would the puppy like to go out? We're coming to a station." She would jump off the bed and wagging her tail, she understood.

Duchess was a good dog, she was loving and fun. She had her moments of mischievousness. When she was a puppy she would escape out the door between our legs and play catch me if you can. All four of us, My Mom, Dad, Brother and I would run like maniacs to catch her. The only way we could ever get her was with her puppy snacks. When she was caught she would be wagging her tail so happy it was like she was on a high. I guess maybe she had been.

We took her on vacations, everyone wanted to adopt her, of course that was never going to happen she was all ours.

When she passed away I was in college, I was so devastated I couldn't function. Luckily I had very kind professors who understood and let me take make up tests.

I still miss her. She was and is an angel in our lives. I think she is here all the time guiding all the pets we have had since, including my little knuckle head Xena.

Duchess, I know that you know how much I love you and always will.

Sherri

Strike out one and up for bat again...

Hi Everyone,

Well I heard back from the manger at the book store. They put a halt on all book signings. I felt like my heart would sink to the floor. Then she said she knew of another store that did a lot of local author book signings. So my heart zoomed up again.

I called the manger at the other store and he said that he was interested but said that everything was wrong on the book's website. He said I needed to write my publisher with a list of corrections. Which of course I did.

He said I should drop off my book and he would read it and let me know if it is cost effective to have a book signing. Of course I said I would but the loss of another book with no return makes my heart cry.

After all, I sent a bunch of books out all ready with no results so I am hoping that I will get some kind of positive response.

I really need a positive response. I worked so hard on my book and I need to know that this book will be a success. It is my baby and I want it to grow. I don't want it to shrivel and die.

So I will drop off my baby in good faith and hope that the book store manager will take good care of her.

Wish me luck!

Something Troubling And Something Good

Today's blog is going to take a tiny departure from my earlier blogs. I am going to rant a bit about customer service. Since I work in the field I am the first to defend that there are a lot customer service reps out there that are great. This blog is not about all reps just the people out there that give the rest of us a bad name.

As I said I am a Customer Service Rep and the people I have helped know that I will go to last mile to help them as much as I can with-in the perimeters of my job. I will not lie to them. I will tell them how it is and I will tell them exactly the next step to fix any given situation.

This weekend I ran into Customer Service Reps who are just the reverse. I will not name the field but I can tell you it is something that we all deal with. I was just trying to help my Mom out on an issue. I was professional and courteous though I was upset my voice never raised and I never blamed the rep or used foul language. As a rep myself, I know better.

I have to tell you that I was hung up on, transferred and lied to. I wasted almost a whole day speaking to leads and supervisors as well as managers who made promises and never came through. It is an embarrassment to me as someone in the profession that people would do that. So called professionals who have risen to the rank of supervisor or manager and they still tell you bold face lies.

I was promised that someone would see this issue to the end, my Mom told me all he did was blame the equipment and hightailed it out of my Mom's place faster then Superman. This was the expert the manager had promised me, he was suppose to make sure that my Mom was satisfied and fix the situation on the spot. This was the high level technical expert who ran for the hills as soon as he gave a slight check around her place. Then when my Mom called the Manager he didn't even give a damn, just said he would pull the equipment and give her discounts for next time.

Discounts? For what? How about service? How about keeping your promises instead of blaming my Mom? How about follow through? As you can see I am really angry about this and I will go through the proper steps with my Mom to complain.

My question is this? How do they sleep at night? Do they have a conscience?
Don't they have a Mother who they care about? Don't they have an ounce of empathy?


It just disgusts me.

Ok, on to the writing news. I may have a contact for a book signing. One of my friends at work went to order my book, and he told me about someone who may help. I went in and spoke to them and we may have meeting coming up if the big boss ok's it. I will let you know.

Till next time,

Sherri

The brickwalls of the new writer

This weeks blog is about the effect of the economy and the difficulty to get a return call from bookstore event planners.

First of all the economy, all the small bookstores that would give you a chance are falling by the wayside. They are closing and becoming virtual stores. It is very discouraging. The stores that would give you chance to do signings and display your books well are being squeezed out by the giants.

Then the economy is also effecting our libraries to the point that they are cutting hours, closing doors and laying off personnel. I think this is a crime. Our founding father Benjamin Franklin created the lending system so all Americans would have access to books. Now they are cutting down to the point that the very young and the very old can't get the books they want.

Now with the cuts in the economy they are cutting at the most essential places including libraries. Why can't they cut things that are not important, why must we all suffer for their lack of efficiency. All the fat for changing a light bulb or a going on a "fact finding tour" is now being paid for by us. I find this outrageous! Don't you?

I also need to discuss how hard it is to get a return call or email from an event planner at certain big bookstores which will go nameless. They can't even hit reply and say sorry not interested. It is not only discouraging it is rude. The only thing I can say is that I am going to keep trying but it is maddening.

I will let you all know if I have any success.

A New Writers Challenge

Hi Everyone,

My name is Sherri and I have been writing since I was a small child. I always loved it! It was way to express myself since I was very shy. In college I used to write short stories instead of my papers.

I started to write poetry and short stories for Fanzines. Then for Fan Fiction websites. It was way to learn my craft and get feed back. I love it because you meet wonderful people and learn to get better as a writer.

I have written two novels. The first one is called Murder Inc. I learned a lot from that one and how important promotion is and understanding how the public thinks from the reviews. I truly thank all those people both for the good reviews and the bad. I think that helped me become a better writer.

Now I have new baby, Fantasy Time Inc. ( I guess I'm really into titles with the word Inc.) I am going to work like hell to get it out there.

Here's the rub, the thing no one tells you. No one will really help you. I have a P. R. firm and they did they're job with the press releases and such. It's my job to seal the deal and it's very hard to do that if no one will reply to your attempts to meet with them. If your not established they won't see you.

Thus the birth of this blog. My goals are thus;

1. To promote my new book.

2. To help fellow writers.

3. To reach a new audience.

4. To reach the powers that be.

5. To entertain.

There you have it. All you lovely people in blog reading land. I will be silly, chatty, frustrated and maybe a bit angry from time to time. I hope I will also be informative and helpful.

Here's to our joint adventure,

Sherri