Saturday, November 22, 2008

Welcome to the Weekend

Another week gone, with lots of work done. Between Thursday night and Friday morning, I added three potential clients! "Yippee!" as my Mom says.

I sent my email blast for Starshine & Cupcakes, including the link to this blog. We'll see if anyone clicks and checks it out.

And the job at The Granada is getting more interesting.

Now, for a weekend off. You know, it took a bit of "work" to get used to being off on the weekends. When at Borders, I was often traveling or handling an event, or logged on to work on newsletters or press releases on the weekends. In fact, Sundays were pretty much given over to Borders DMM work - I would even go to the store and work there on Sundays.

But now that I'm no longer with Borders, I find myself with the weekends stretching before me, in what seems like a huge amount of time OFF. Today, I planned to spend all day cleaning my condo. All Day. Instead, even with my A.D.D. method of cleaning, I was done by 10:30am!

So now, I hit the road to run some errands! What a great thing a weekend off is.

K8.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Wednesday at Work

Good afternoon!

I'm working at my Granada job, trying to get inspired. What group or groups can I reach out to next, for tickets to A Christmas Carol? It's not easy, this group ticket sales world.

In my other life, I've added a new client, Erik O'Dowd, author of Gaviota, a novel. And planning Starshine Roshell's Launch Party, "Starshine & Cupcakes!" That will be a blast, I think, but a lot of work. Still - looking forward to it. Today, when I'm back in the home office, I intend to send out the email-invite, to my email list. "Presented by Great Books Literary Services." How cool is that?!?

K8.

Monday, November 17, 2008

After a Strange Weekend...

Good morning!

On this Monday morning, after that horrible weekend, all is nearly well. The Tea Fire, here in Montecito, is now 80% contained. That's great news, but the fires in Northern L.A., Sylmar and Orange County continue to rage.

I never got back to the SCIBA posting - sorry about that. It was a lot of fun, I think I made some contacts, but most importantly, I reconnected with that Book and Author Lover within me, that part of me that has driven me and my life and dreams for over the past two decades; or indeed, nearly my whole life. I was thrilled to see some of my favorite authors (and favorite people, actually): T. Jefferson Parker, Robert Crais, Kim-from-LA and Wade Lucas, to name a few. I met Joseph Wambaugh for the first time! And Whitley Strieber -as I told him at dinner, "I have been listening to you on Coast to Coast AM for years!" I really enjoyed our conversation. A new pal, I hope, will be Paula Yee - what fun we had for the few minutes she sat at my table during dinner. And of course, it's always wonderful to run into my new friend, Selden Edwards.

I'm so glad I went - of course, I had my doubts and my grumblings: "why did I sign up for this, why am I schlepping to L.A. for this?!?" But I'm so glad I spent the money and made the effort. Alas, going to SCIBA has only served to whet my appetite for Book Expo 2009, in NYC!

That's it for the SCIBA Roundup.

I have to say, before I post this and log off - I had a wonderful week of books and book events recently. More confirmation that I'm still destined for a career in some way in the wonderful world of books and authors.

My Book Week started at Tecolote, in Montecito, for a reading/signing by author and poet Diana Raab. It was an event I set up, but she took it further, with a delightful launch party, attended by about 70 people, noshing, talking about books and writing, listening to poems from Diana's new collection, Dear Anais: My Life in Poems for You.

Friday, November 7th, I went to a publication celebration for Hometown Santa Barbara. My client Starshine Roshell is a contributor. It was another delightful evening, meeting writers and others, for what is a lovely book. I strongly recommend it, for gift-giving!

This past Tuesday, I not only attended a SB Book & Author Fest board meeting (I'm happy to say it's still alive and kicking - stay tuned!), I also went to another book launch party downtown. This one was for Jenna McCarthy, author of The Parent Trip. It was a great little party at Due, the maternity store, and I enjoyed reconnecting with Jenna.

Although last Saturday's AfterWORDS event in Santa Clarita was cancelled due to the fires, it was still an amazing week of books and authors. Honestly, I feel reinvigorated, in this new career I've chosen!

Gotta run - meeting a new client today, at Borders. See? I just keep moving forward!

K8.