Lessons In Stalking is in the HOUSE

I have the book.  Repeat, I have the book. 

I wasn't sure I was going to get it.  I was told delivery would be yesterday between 3-5 PM.  At 4:30, I called, just to make sure the books were on their way.  "Uh, will someone be there after five o'clock?" asked the voice on the other end of the phone.  I assured him I would be here all night.  "Good, because our driver can't make it there by five."

In a quick aside, I have no problem with the books coming late.  Back-ups happen, traffic, etc.  But what bothers me is that I'm the one calling the business to find this out.  Shouldn't they be calling me to give me the heads up?  The same thing happened with my book printing.  I sent an e-mail to my rep, confirming the book would be printed and shipped that week and only then did she e-mail back to say my order had been moved back a week.  I don't understand customer service at that level.

Anyway, at 6:30 with still no word I called again and was told the driver was stuck in traffic.  He called 15 minutes later to get final directions to my home, and pulled up in the mother of all semi's at exactly 7 PM.

This truck was HUGE.  Half a street block.  Which made it all the funnier when the driver flung open the rear door to reveal a long, narrow, empty hull.  Empty, that is, except for my stack of boxes in the very back of the truck.  I wish I'd taken a picture. 

The driver heaves and hauls the boxes to the lift and right as the boxes of books touch ground, the heavens open and it starts to rain.  Now, the books are wrapped in plastic inside the boxes.  But STILL.  I've been waiting how long for these books?  I grab 2 cartons and hustle up the stairs to my door.  The delivery guy grabs one (yea - my yoga  and weights are paying off!) and follows me.  Luckily, it stayed at a drizzle until we got the books inside and then five minutes later it really let loose.  We got lucky.

At that point, after the bees, the boards, the bathroom, and the rain, I was in no mood to enjoy the books.  And I didn't want my first experience of them to be a bad one, so I opened a carton to check them out but I really didn't look at them closely.  I just wanted a shower and bed.

THE BOOKS ARE COMING!!!!!

Praise the Gods, they're on their way!  I just hung up with the delivery house and Lessons In Stalking will be at my door this Thursday between 3-5.  (In a slightly painful aside, they actually could have delivered the books to me tomorrow, Wednesday, but I have interviews lined up in the afternoon. I had to grit my teeth not to cancel the interviews to be here for the books instead.)

I can't wait.  Wow.  I have so much to do.  Pre-orders to ship out, I need to get books to Amazon asap, buy shipping material, send out review copies...the list goes on. 

It almost feels like it's not really happening.  Sort of like Christmas as a child.  You wait and wait for what seems like forever, then it happens and afterwards you're like, "Wait.  That was it? What happened?" 

Everything feels new now.  For so long the mindset has been "Get the books in.  Get the books in."  Now the mindset is "Do publicity and call everyone and run here and run there and write a press release and mail out copies and on and on and on and on...."  Hysterical yet joyful chaos probably best describes today's mindset.

I have no idea how big a carton (or cartons) 2000 books come in.  This ought to be amusing when they deliver it.

Dena

A Day at Home

I don't have any place I have to be today for the first time in what feels like months and I'm milking it for all it's worth.  I had a writers critique group meeting last night and didn't get home until about 10:30 and made it into bed by 11.  I promised myself I could sleep in as late as I wanted to this morning so was disappointed when I found myself pretty much wide awake at 5:30 AM.  I'm like a child.  If I know I have to get up, I don't want to.  If I know I can sleep in, I'll be up before dawn, waiting for Saturday morning cartoons to come on. 

I have a list of 8 calls I must make today.  I always do that to myself.  I loathe the phone and put calls off for as long as humanly possible and then literally, like today, have to devote a day to them.  Luckily, most of them are under 10-minute calls.

Also going to spend today doing some book promo on the web.  I'll turn on some music and spend the day hopping from cat site to cat site, seeing if I can do an announcement for my book.

Checked my e-mail this morning and no new orders for the book have come in.  C'mon all you listeners in radio land...where are you?? =)

On The Radio

Note to self: Ask radio host to record interview before the show starts, not after.

Had my 15 minutes of fame and then some today. 
Dena ready to burst into song...(not!)I went in for what I thought would be a 10-minute radio interview with host Dusty Dunn at WGOS 1070 AM in Greensboro , and ended up getting almost an hour's play time.  Thumbs up to the DJ!

As I was driving into Greensboro, I tuned my radio into the station.  Literally, just as turned on the station I heard Dusty's voice: "We've given air time in the past to dogs lovers and this morning we're going to have a local woman who's an expert on cats join us.  Her name is Dena Harris and she's written a book, Lessons In Stalking, and she's also got some stories in the Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul book, so we'll look forward to speaking with Dena about 9 o'clock today."

Drivers in the lane next to me may have wondered why I was pumping my arms and cheering, but who cares?

I got to the studio which was a tiny little room upstairs in this old but very cool downtown building.  We started the interview and about 3 minutes in Dusty's producer signalled that another Chicken Soup writer was on the line.  Since she was calling from San Francisco at 6am, Dusty gave her the first 10 minutes of the interview.  Then, since he had a vacant slot and time to fill, I got the rest of the time up until the show's close at 10 AM.  I got in numerous plugs for the book and we even had 3-4 people call in, which was cool.

One guy wanted to know what he should do with the all kittens his cat had - the shelters were full.  I had no real answer for that one other than family and friends, but I did get a plea in to please spay/neuter your pets and there are so many great cats waiting to be adopted at shelters, please check them out.

Another woman just wanted to know how to order my book (a big hello and shout-out to you, ma'am, whereever you may be), and another was just calling in to say how great cats are.

It's hard to evaluate yourself, especially while speaking.  My friend Pam listened in and said I talked a little fast, but otherwise came across as funny and interesting. 

Blair's workplace didn't pick up the signal (although I found out later he and all my out-of-state friends/relatives could have listened to the show via the web) so he can't comment.  And, as stated in my opening, I didn't realize the show wasn't being taped.

All in all, I feel positive about the experience.  I'm glad my first time on radio being interviewed was with such a kind and pleasant person. He also welcomed me back when the book is out.  So once I get my book launch set, I may try to get another few minutes back on air.

The pictures here are of Dusty Dunn, the host, and me sitting in Dusty's chair.  My chair was across from him with a mike, but he thought the better shot woud be of me with more of the equipment.  We took the photos right after the interview concluded.