The Waiting Game

Didn't hear from Claire who is taking over the group, so I went in to the store again on Thursday to see if I could see her. I had to go into Kingston anyway. Apparently they are having a big meeting re the group next week, or possibly on Monday week, so once they have all sat around talking, I should hear from her then. She has my contact details anyway, and an information sheet on the book, so hopefully it wil be good news.

Heard from Ricky James, the Manager of Watkins in London as well, he is still up to his ears with books to consider, but shouldn't be long before he makes a decision as to whether to stock mine. Can't see why not myself.

Only one week then to go to the Questing Conference. This time next week I shall no doubt be sitting there surrounded by people admiring my wears and hopefully buying books. Have a lot to sort out though - getting a float of change, hoping my cash box is big enough, not to mention the table cloth I have bought. Deciding which promotional materials to use and how to display them, which articles etc to print out and maybe offer as freebies. Would have liked to have got some free pens or something, but probably left it too late now.

We are still waiting for the contracts for the house as well - were supposed to arrive a couple of days ago, but so far, nothing. We spoke to the solicitor yesterday and they have posted another copy out to us, so hopefully will arrive on Monday, and then I suppose it will all go. The house we are buying is already empty, so in theory we can move whenever the removal people can fit us in.

The power of positive thought

The meeting at Borders went very well - Linda is leaving the store though to start a new job (she only found out today) so someone else called Clare will be taking over the group. She has given my details to Clare though, who will be in touch within the next 24 hours to hopefully organise something and get me booked in. So this means that my books will be in at least one branch of Borders, and my name will also be on flyers etc all round the store. It a long held dream of mine to do a talk and book signing in Borders, so on this cosmic trigger day, dreams can and do come true. The power of positive thought in action.

Sainbsury's - groan !

The main news this week then is re Sainsbury's - groan, my ex employer. When I left their employ in August 2005, I led a lot of them to believe that the reason was to finish my book, although there were actually many other reasons as well, which I won't go into there. Suffice to say though, that I would not recommend them as an employer.

When I left though, and told them about the book, a lot of poeple said to let them when it was published, as they would like to have a copy of it. So, around one month ago, I telephoned the Personnel Dept (against my better judgement I might add) with a view to seeing if they would be prepated to let me place a copy in the staff canteen with an order form.

I spoke to a lady called Donna, who in turn spoke to the Personnel Manager, Sarah. Donna then came back to me to say that Sarah would like to see a copy of the book. So I took a cooy in for her to see, on the undersstanding that she would get back to me in 2-3 weeks with an answer as to whether they were prepared to let me put one in the canteen.

One month went by and I heard nothing, so last Monday, I telepehoned the store again. I was told that Sarah was in a Managers meeting and would call me back. She didn't, so I called the following day, and was told that they were all busy doing payroll and would call me tomorrow. I waited until Thursday afternoon before ringing the store again and telling them that I would be coming in after the Journey group on Friday afternoon. They then said that they would leave a message for me at the Customer Service desk.

When I got there, there was no message, so I signed in and went upstairs to see Personnel. Sarah was in yet another meeting. I was then told though, by another lady in Personnel, that Sarah had put my book in the canteen, after it was delivered, and surprise, surprise - it had gone missing. To say that I was unhappy about this is an understatement. I did NOT give them permission to do this - they were supposed to ciontact me first, and anyway, what is the point in putting a book on display to gauge interest with no information as to how people can order a copy.

After I got home, Sarah finally did ring, and gave me a load of old waffle about how she though they were doing me a favour by doing this, as I used to work there. If this is a favour - allowing someone to steal my book, then I dread to think how they treat their enemies.

The long and the short of it is that I have fired off a letter to the Store Manager, telling him what I think and asking for an apology. Technically they owe me £15 for that missing book, but I know I don't have a hope in hell of getting it. They do though owe me an apology though at the very least. We shall see. In some strange way though ,this has helped me to see that actually I don't need Sainsbury's anymore and helped me to out the whole thing to bed, or at least to start tucking it in .....

The Tranquility Awareness meeting on Friday though was good. They have invited me to bring some books along to the next meeting in November, which will be good. I have finally sent a flyer as well to Linda, the lady at Borders who organises the mind, body and spirit group, and am going in to Kingston to see her this afternoon, to discuss the group in more detail and share some ideas.

I have also done the flyer for my Writers Circle and Support group, which I have been talking about for so long. No more excuses now then. The first meeting will be on November 16th. Must send an email out to everyone then to let them know.