Customer Service

When you're an author you always need to remember the customer service aspects that go with the job. Having worked in the call centers it was something they did their best to engrain into everyone that worked there. They stressed it almost constantly in fact. You never treat a customer badly because it's bad business. In an author's case it's their readers are their customers.

What got me thinking about it was this set of questions by someone I know who reviews books. She reviews a lot of them in fact.

"Have you ever had an author treat you bad- do you still read their work or not considering a lot of people still think their great? What if you haven't, would you? What is your take on this age old debate?"

When questions like these get asked it should make you think if you're an author. I know I’m not perfect, and I know I don’t write perfectly. I just try to do the best I can to produce the best story I can. Will what I write be to everyone’s taste? Probably not and I’m the first to admit it. There’s not a single author out there that appeals to every single reader and that’s the truth. 

On reading

If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” ~ Stephen King

I really do think that he's correct in this quote. It's something that resounds with me. There are many authors’ that probably need to read more. It doesn't matter what you read either, you just need to read.

I still read a lot of books and review them. Not to brag but I've read almost 100 books this year, I'm reading my 95th right now. As a result, I'm finding my ideas flow better and my writing has improved. If you haven’t noticed my books are getting longer also and the stories are getting more complex. My reading speed has also increased which has allowed me to read even more books than I have before.

At an end (poem)

I write some rather macabre poetry these days. Just wrote this one yesterday.

All is darkness
Full moon shining
A shadow moves
The blade's flashing
Quickly the cut
My blood coursing
Flows from within
Crimson drenching
My last moment
Visions ending

Chapter Five

(This is from Realms Beyond, a project I'm working on presently)

Pushing past a clump of bushes Carla broke out into an opening. She spotted a small stream that was flowing by. Being parched, the clear cool water drew her. She barely noticed the dirt road that ran both ways along the bank. It looked, at best to her, little better than a pair of wagon ruts running through the trees and therefore was unimportant.

Kneeling at the shore, she cupped her hands together and dipped them in. Scooping some up, she drank hungrily and got the front of her shirt soaked when some dribbled through her fingers. The coolness was feeling great on her skin as she let her cares melt away.

Having partially slaked her thirst she took off her shoes and socks and placed them in a neat pile. Then she pulled the legs of her Capri pants up as far as she could. Placing her feet in the water she breathed a sigh of relief as the coolness flooded through. Digging her toes in the sand felt good. This was something she would do every day if she had the chance. Then, the realization that she wasn’t at home anymore came back. Looking around, the only viable option seemed to be the decrepit looking road. Sighing, picked her feet up out of the water and let them dry in the slight breeze which only took a few minutes.

Putting her socks and shoes on, she got up and began walking down the road. As her eyes swept the adjoining forest, she thought how this must be the wildest place that she had ever seen in her life that she could remember. It was as if there was an almost complete absence of people. All day, she’d never seen anyone else. Rounding one more bend, she finally seen one individual.

He was wearing a long ankle length black hooded robe and sandals. A thick rope was tied around his middle like a belt. Gazing at her for a moment, recognition came to him. Pulling back his hood he stared at her unable to hide his wide-eyed shock. His mouth hung open as he calmly regarded her. She was equally shocked at how he appeared. His eyes were red, his hair was pure white and skin was pale.

He blinked at her for a few moments. Carefully choosing his words, he finally spoke. “Your majesty, you’re back. What are you doing out here on the road today?”

“What are you talking about? What do you mean by calling me majesty and that I’m back?”

“You really look like the princess. What pray tell is that strange raiment that you’re wearing?”

 In her confusion she tried to understand what he was saying. Some of the words were really odd to her ears. “I can tell you I’m no princess. I really don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m just wearing clothes.”

“You really do have quite the same likeness as our princess does.”

“Okay, I understand who you think I am. I’m pretty sure that I’m not her thought. So tell me please, what are you supposed to be?”

“Why I’m a monk milady.”

“You’re a monk?”

“Yes, I’ve dedicated my life to the service of the gods.”

She nodded as she tried to correlate it to what she knew. “That’s cool.”

“I’m sorry to bother you. I really did think you might be the princess, she’s been missing a while.” He frowned as he put his hood back up and continued walking in the direction that she had come from. Before he had made it very many paces, she called out him to stop him, “where does this road go to?”

Slowing his step a little, he called out over his shoulder. “If you keep going that way you’ll end up in Effingham milady.”

This guy must be crazy. Since when would I ever be a princess? She shook her head and started walking down the road again. Then again, maybe she was the crazy one and she was imagining all of this. There were no such things as dragons either; was there? 

Health Coverage Debate

I've seen a lot of things on the health insurance debate. There are things for and against it, what will become basically our national system. One of the things against it is that we'll now have created another bureaucracy. That's understandable; I don't like being told what to do either. Whether I want it or not, I'll have to have it. Somehow I'm rather averse to that concept.

I've also seen the things for it and I understand the economic reasons behind it. Because everyone has to have what's basically a similar plan, costs are supposed to be reduced overall. Of course, some that haven't been carrying medical insurance will now have to pay for it. So, those like myself, will obviously find their costs increased.

Anyways, the pool will become larger so the costs are spread out over more people. Even all businesses are treated equally, therefore no company will be allowed to have a competitive advantage. Walgreen's will have the same expense as Kmart does. Theoretically, it's supposed to be a better system.

The origins of Obamacare, or Romneycare, whichever term you want to use (they're actually the same law) is from many years back. Some were running up to their benefit maximums, or they were being dropped by their insurance companies. I remember reading the articles in the Wall Street Journal, etc regarding this. Another thing that added fuel to the fire is the financial system breakdown. A chunk of the individual bankruptcies were the result of extensive medical bills. That added its little bit to the meltdown that had happened. Basically, some of the businesses that could have weathered the storm otherwise weren't able to.

There are some in Congress that didn't want that happening again. There are only so many write offs you can take. Now only a small amount of businesses ever went under because of health care costs though it it is something that has happened in the past.

For good, or bad, it looks like we'll all soon have health insurance. I'm not really sure if I'm for it, or against it, but I haven't had health insurance for many years. When I did have it, the copays were a killer so I never went to see the doctor. Either way, it means I probably still won't be seeing any doctors since I'm having a hard time paying for groceries, let alone copays. 

Realms Beyond (Work In Progress)

(This is something that I've started to write and I'm not far on it either.)

Chapter One

The atmosphere in the one bedroom apartment reached the point it felt oppressive. Emanating from the radio’s speaker was the song, “The Four Horsemen,” by Metallica. Hard rock and heavy metal music added its own special ambiance to the tense antagonistic situation. Angered at the argument that they were having, Carla stared at John sullenly. Her sour expression broadcasted loudly her displeasure and blackened thoughts. In her rage she considered strongly throwing various things at him like the vase on the end table next to the chair she was sitting in.

Quite often arguments, it would escalate into shouting matches between the couple. It would all start over something that was quite innocent but would be taken wrong by either herself, or by John. Soon, they would once descend into a morass of invective. Of course, neither of them would remember the initial reason for all of the acrimony next day. The only way to soothe their bruised egos was to let time pass and maybe put a little distance into the equation. That is why John would head to the gym, and Carla would take a walk around the block.

"Why are you always such a nagging bitch?" John’s blue eyes blazed with fury.

"That's one too many times that you’ve called me that. You are so impossible. Just impossible to be around." Through her clenched jaw, she growled the words. Deciding she was done with the whole situation, she didn’t want to continue to blow up at him like she had so many times before. It wasn’t helping anyhow so it obviously wasn’t the answer to the problem. And besides, she was tired of it all.

They had devolved to the point there was so little happiness in the relationship. It didn’t take a genius to realize it just wasn’t working out for them and it was time to do something since it wasn’t getting any better. She got up from her chair and stormed across the living room of the apartment. The fact that it was the middle of the night wasn’t even crossing her mind, she was so furious she wasn’t thinking clearly.

"So, where in the hell do you think you’re going?” He thundered at her as she swung the door all the way open and slammed it against the wall. The doorknob made a perfectly round dent in the wall.

Stopping momentarily in the doorway she muttered as she shook her head, “why do I even bother?”

Hearing what she said, in his most authoritarian voice he responded. “I forbid you to leave now.”

“Hrmph,” she took off down the hallway not answering further. He heard her footsteps clomping down the stairs to go down to the bottom floor. A few moments later, he faintly heard the entrance closing. He wanted so badly to run after her, grab her, and drag her back. For a moment, he could picture himself like a cave man carrying her over his shoulder. How dare she leave the place like she just did! She had no right to refuse him! There was no way he was going to put up with that from her.

Then, he remembered what happened the last time when he ran after her and caught her. She hit him with a vicious uppercut which knocked him out. On top of that, the neighbors had called the cops and since they pressed charges, he went to jail. Having lots of time overnight to think about it, he begrudgingly realized that he respected her. At least the way she could hit him was something he could respect.

It was no fun to be in the jail either and knew it was the last place that he needed to be. The place was cold, the lights stayed on and everyone made noise through the night. He was thankful the next morning though when they let him out with just a warning since she wouldn’t press any charges against him.

Still, he learned something important from the whole mess. If she walked out like that, to let her go until she had finally calmed down. Picking a chair, he sat down. Closing his eyes, he began to breathe deeply and slowly in an attempt to defuse his ire.

In her fury she ignored everything that was going on around her as she walked along. That included the pair of eyes that noticed her from the darkness of a shadow. Their interest thoroughly became captured when she tripped on one of the edges of the damaged concrete. Her watcher decided that she wasn’t paying much attention so she would be a good target.

Being in the middle of the night, the city was quiet with all of the bustle decreased. As the darkness enveloped her, it felt comforting to her as her thoughts began to slow. How could it have gone as wrong as it had? Once he’d seemed so very perfect for her and then something had changed. She wasn’t sure what it was either, but whatever it was it wasn’t the same anymore. If he were to disappear from her life she wasn’t sure it would hurt her feelings at all. It seemed that he wanted to do anymore was to control her completely.

Inspiration Unlimited magazine.

I recently received a message through Facebook from Preethi Kashyap inviting me to start writing for Inspiration Unlimited e-magazine. She’s one of the editors with the publication. It’s not a magazine that I’d ever heard of before the invite. After checking through the list of contributors I found that I recognized a few of the names. I accepted the invitation and here is the first article I wrote for them.

http://iuemag.com/july2013/the-choices-you-make.php