February 2005 Memo
I may have started something last month by giving my memo a sub title. This month I think it will turn into more of a theme – kindness. Last month I had a great experience with a very special customer. I’m going to award Dustin, from Indianapolis, Indiana, the distinction of being our very first, “Customer of the Month!” It all started with an e-mail in late January, asking if he were to order a couple children’s books, if he could get them before Valentine’s Day.
You see his girlfriend, Sarah, is going to be a teacher next year. She’d mentioned to Dustin that she’d like to have a rocking in her classroom so she could sit and read to the children. Dustin, being the kind guy I believe him to be, decided to surprise Sarah with a rocking chair on Valentine’s Day. What a guy! But he didn’t stop there. Thinking it would be a perfect fit, he wondered if there were any children’s books about rocking chairs.
He decided to do a random search on the Internet through Yahoo on children’s books and rocking chairs. What came up? ShortHand Publishing of course, and we are thrilled Dustin found us!
After receiving his e-mail, I called the post office to inquire whether the books would arrive in time. Being assured they would, I sent an e-mail back to Dustin.
When he received my e-mail, he wasted no time in ordering our two children’s books about rocking chairs. I’d love to have been able to see Sarah’s face on Valentines’ Day. And I just may be able to; Dustin said he’d send pictures….I can hardly wait.
Corresponding with Dustin proved that a little kindness goes a long way. He was so impressed that I’d take the time to find out for sure if the books would arrive in time. To me, it was just good business. Of course, when you have an appreciative customer such as Dustin, going that extra mile is a pleasure.
Dustin also appreciated the fact that I offered to sign the books for Sarah, saying that just makes them more special. I love it when an author is able to sign a book for me, so I pass that onto anyone who is interested in that.
Dustin made my day when I read his e-mail saying, “Thanks so much again for your personal attention, I really appreciate it. You’ve got to be the nicest author I’ve ever come in contact with.”
Well Dustin, you’ve got to be nicest customer we’ve had for a long time. Now, that’s not to say our customers are not nice or that we don’t appreciate them. I don’t think we’ve had an unpleasant customer, but some just stand out!
As soon as I receive the pictures from Dustin, I’ll post them here for everyone to enjoy! In the meantime, enjoy your chair Sarah, and the books. J You’re one lucky lady!
Now, on to other news this month. Not quite as exciting, but nonetheless eventful, is the addition Mom discovered to our little family. A few years back after my nephew, Joshua, was killed, I bought Mom a “Joshua Tree.” These are tropical plants and can grow to be very large. When I purchased the tree it had several babies growing from the main trunk. When they were large enough, Mom took them off and planted them in their own pots.
Now I had a tree, and Mom had four, then she gave one away which left her with three. After we moved, one of trees grew like crazy and was soon taller than me. In fact, it was so big it was blocking much of the window. I decided to move it to the north end of the house where it would have more room. Big mistake!
I soon learned these trees are very temperamental. It took no time at all for the leaves to turn yellow and start dying. The I did a Internet search of these trees and found out they don’t like to be moved from south to north, or vise-versa.
Because the tree had a severe curve to it’s trunk, it leaned to one side. Not quite having the heart to toss the whole tree, we decided to take all the leaves off and cut the trunk low enough, that should it sprout, maybe, just maybe it would grow to be straight.
We watered it at first, I’m not quite sure why, but we did. Feeling that it was a little silly to water something that appeared to be dying, we stopped. When I greeted Mom the morning of February 6th she had a suspicious smile on her face. She had stuck a note to my door, but without my glasses, I couldn’t see it. (She writes very small) Finally she could wait no longer and joyfully said, “Joshua is having babies!” It took me a second to realize what she was saying; so many things ran through my mind. Then it dawned on me, our dead tree was sprouting!!
I high-tailed it down the stairs to see for my self, and sure enough … there were two baby Joshua’s sprouting from the top of the supposed dead trunk!! I can’t tell you how excited I was. I took a picture and decided to record their development. The following Sunday, I took pictures again. It wasn’t until I was editing them on my computer when I saw something amazing – a third baby Joshua!! Now I was the one who had news.
Before calling Mom down, I checked the plant for myself. Sure enough, on the left side, just barely visible, was another little sprout! Now I called Mom down to share the news.
February 20th, the second Sunday since our discovery, revealed just how well the new Joshua’s were growing. On the 13th after we noticed the new growth, we gave the plant some water. Then I got thinking, it produced these little darling when we didn’t water it … what if we water it and they die? So we haven’t watered it since, and just look what’s happening.
Now, of course, we are checking the plant all the time to see what’s growing. It’s going to be interesting to follow the progress of these new plants. When I bought the original plant for Mom, I was told the babies were two years old, so we’ll see how big these get in two years time.
On the writing front, well frankly, I haven’t been getting a lot of writing done lately. It’s extremely time consuming when you are trying to market books yourself, especially when you don’t have access to the doors you need opened.
This is why I have decided to get myself a literary agent. I have done much research on just how to go about finding one. This is also very time consuming. One must be wary of the scammers out there who are just out to make a buck for themselves.
Thankfully, there is help if you know where to look. I have even found a 12 day e-course on writing query letters, which is the first step to finding an agent, that is of course, after you find one who is interested in your genre of book.
I also learned that most agents don’t have time to look at the entire body of work. So, if you’re lucky enough to get a response from an agent, they’ll most likely ask for a summary of your work. This is something I’m in the middle of putting together. While doing this summary of chapters, I realized that some of my chapters are much too long! Well, it’s a little late to do anything about that.
I wonder if there will come a time where I can look at my book and say, “Yep, its done! There’s nothing else I can change!” Somehow, I doubt it. This is indeed a learning experience.
You’ll remember last month I read “Cape Refuge.” This month I’ve read both sequels, “Southern Storm” and “Rivers Edge.” If you like you can view my reviews of these excellent books here.
You may also remember me mentioning the empty lot next to us, and how, when our neighbors put up their fence last summer, I wondered if they knew something we didn’t. As it turns out they just wanted privacy, and it wasn’t because anyone was going to be building on the lot. Well, all that’s changed now. We are getting new neighbors, and, I’ve already spoken to them!
On Valentine’s Day we received a phone call from Harold, the gentleman who has bought the lot, and will be building a house this Fall or next Spring. The reason he called is because of a variance, which means their house will be coming within the allowed three meters of our fence. The village has said they need to notify us before they can get approval for their plans. I have received their plans in the mail, and I can’t see a problem. The house they are planning to build will only add to the beauty of our street.
I guess that just about does it for this month. So until next time, read much and be well! J
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