Macey Delena Baggett Wuesthoff, click
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Blogs by Macey Delena Baggett Wuesthoff
Life's a Breeze Now That I'm a Published Novelist--NOT!!!! 7/23/2004 5:57:08 AM
Yesterday and Today. God continue bring me joy in the blessings that come with the publication of a novel and give me strength to endure the other hardships that my life entails.
The best thing that's happened to me thus far this week is that Barnes and Nobel scheduled a book signing for me yesterday for Sept. 25th. The manager is actually going to make signs for me, put me in the calendars (did I spell that right? I NEVER spell that darned word right!), etc. What a nice lady! Bless her soul, she's going to help market me! This is such a rare thing in the industry. Most bookstore clerks couldn't care less that you're an author. One Books-a-Million clerk told me yesterday that, before I could even be considered for a book signing, I'd have to come in, get an author packet, fill out an application within to request my book be entered into the BAM database (no books can be signed there unless they are entered into their precious database), that she would leave it the packet at the customer service desk with my name on it, and I could pick it up anytime that day. I even got her name, "Margie," before she hung up on me. Yet when my husband stopped by after work to pick it up, you guessed it, no packet, no "Margie," no "Margie" available by phone. So I get to make another trip out there today and hope dear Margie's not on her lunch.
Waldens, now that, my friends, when it comes to a booksigning, makes Books-A-Million look like a walk in the park! I called there and spoke with a fairly nice lady named "Kate" who gave me the whole database spiel and told me to call a certain number, and they'd take care of me there, and once I was entered into the grand Walden's database, I could call her back for the signing. Well, I call the number, which is long distance, and I get some recording of some very rude-toned lady, with no option to dial out to a real person. Now mind you, this recording spoke so fast that I had to call back 3 TIMES just to get all of the information. Thank God my cell phone has free long distance--but I'm LOW on anytime minutes now. Now you talk about your lofty requests. They, or rather the recording since I'm clearly dealing with something NON-HUMAN, wants 2 submissions samples NON-RETURNABLE (In other words, I eat two copies of my book out-of-pocket; we writers don't have dozens of these lying around the house, you know.), a cover letter, the publishing company's name and address, my proposed terms (huh?), and a complete list of my publisher's distributor's and channels sent to:
New Vendor
Borders Group Inc.
100 Phoenix Dr.
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
And four dairy products, two meats, and one drink to make a complete part of a daily nutritious breakfast (Sorry, couldn't resist throwing that one in. Any ideas on getting a scrambled egg in an envelope?).
That was yesterday. Today, as mentioned, I have to go try to pick up my author packet and hope they don't want a sample copy, too, because frankly, I don't have one yet, and won't have one until my shipment gets here. My family and friends are fussing because they don't have theirs either. I know; I'm sorry. I'll just order them myself next time and ship them so I'll get them. Geez, I don't know why my publisher and Booksurge are so slow. What can I say? Could it be that we're not their only customers? Hmmm. Good things are worth the wait.
Also, today, I have the joy of [drum roll, please]...tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap...a SPINAL TAP!!! Yeah! 3:30 today! This is a final test by a neurologist to see if I have MS or anything else that could be making me sick. I hope so. Not that I want a disease or anything, but I do want answers to what's wrong with me. In a nutshell, I'm fatigued all the time, always thirsty, have experienced unexplained weight gain and appetite increase, have dry skin, have soreness and numbness in my joins, have frequent headaches so bad that it feels like Mr. Ed is kickboxing my skull (I never got headaches in my life--EVER--before now), and most importantly, went from having what high school chums described as "a memory like an elephant" to no short term memory. I can tell you all about every single thing I ever did K-12, college gets hazy, and last week through yesterday, forget it. I can't tell you much of anything. So far, thyroid, blood, diabetes tests, MRIs, all of that's coming out normal, so this is the last step, this spinal tap. Right now, they're telling me I'm fine. And if they tell me I'm "fine" after this spinal tap...Well, let me just tell you, if this is "fine," it's a real comfort to know that I have even worse things to look forward to if I ever actually become what they consider "sick."
