April

Okay, so what *was* it with new releases in April anyway?  There was a list of new releases a mile long, just in my preferred genre of Cozy Mysteries, and from what I could tell, Paranormal looked just as bad.  Did the publishers decide that everyone would have tax refund money back so they could buy books?   And if that was a part of the decision,  the whole "Publishers vs. Retailers"  war with the agency pricing model made even *less* sense (if that's possible), because it has had the result of making a lot of those new releases impossible to get hold of in ebook!   What's that you say?  I can buy the paperback or hardback instead?  Sorry, Publishers, there were good and sufficient reasons for me to go "all ebook all the time" and I'm by no means the only one.  Get your act together and stop being afraid of new technology, and get those new releases to the retailers.  You're only hurting your customers and your authors...both of which, need I remind you, are the reason for your very existence. 

Paper or Plastic?

Thanks to Barbara Bretton for her thought provoking Earth Day question on Facebook; "Which is better for the environment, paper or plastic?".
It seems there is some controversy going on, because paper uses trees, and plastic hangs around landfills forever.
Barbara's commenters got off on a tangent about cashiers and baggers giving them the "stink-eye" and the heavy sigh when they ask for paper, so I endeavored to explain why that is, and  then I thought, "Why not make a blog post out of it?".  Here's my answer to Barbara and her commenters, and then we'll get into the rest of the post:. 

From the other side - Paper is WAY harder to deal with when you're bagging than plastic. The stores don't give you any framework to sit paper bags in, like the holders we have for plastic, and that's why you get the "stink-eye" and the heavy sigh when you ask for paper. As a cashier, when I don't have a bagger available and you ask for paper, it slows me down getting to the next customer, and these days, I'm on a timer. If I don't get to the next one fast enough, it's a demerit on my record. (This is becoming standard operating procedure in most chain grocery stores, btw.) I care about the environment, but I care about my job more.
The bring your own bags, though... most of them have a loop that slides right over the tab on our plastic holders, so we can make them stay open. That makes them easier and faster than paper, and a lot sturdier than plastic, so we don't have to double bag heavy loads. And it can't be argued that 'bring your own" bags are better for the environment than either paper OR plastic.
My personal opinion is that the stores should stop offering bags at all. Offer the "bring your own" style at checkout for purchase if someone forgets theirs, but have that as the only thing available. 

While I was thinking about this, I also realized there's one other big thing I would change if I could about how most grocery stores do business.  Our local Aldi store has a "deposit" method for carts.  The carts are all chained together, and to unchain them, you must insert a quarter into a little plastic slot, which unlocks the chain on the other end.  You get the quarter back when you return the cart and plug the chain into the slot. I think this is brilliant.  I've been sent out to get carts in snow, ice, slush, lightning, rain, blistering heat, and freezing cold.  Carts are left in parking spaces, where they roll to the far edges of the parking lot, and sometimes clear out onto the street.   With a system such as this, customers would have to return their cart to the store holding area to retrieve their quarter, making my job a lot easier, and probably saving my company a bunch of money in the long run. 

 

 

Where do they come up with those ideas?

I was browsing through the chick lit section at the online bookstore, half awake, and not really paying attention to the blurbs I was reading other than to think occasionally, "Oh, that looks interesting...."  when a description caught my eye.  I'm still shaking my head over this one:

  Nice by Jen Sacks - here's the blurb:

"First there was Clay--it just sort of happened.
Then there was Pete--he was becoming way too attached.
Ben, well, he totally had it coming.
And then there was Sam...

Grace is nice to a fault. She never picks fights, and doesn't like to criticize or hurt people's feelings. Problem is, the men in her life never seem to take a hint. And she just can't bear to tell them outright when she isn't interested. So she kills them. A clean break--no messy emotions, no heated arguments. But someone is onto her. His name is Sam, and he and Grace, with one very dangerous thing in common, make a killer couple. It's a match made in heaven-as long as they can both survive the relationship..."    Ummm ok.. Dent his ego or dent his head? 

I was still shaking my head when Chris got up and he asked what I was thinking about, so I told him.  He kind of snorted and then asked, "Is there anything we need to talk about, dear?"  *grin*.   I think he thinks I read wayyyy too many murder mysteries. 

I think we've all been in places where we might have *liked* to kill an ex love interest that just wouldn't take no for an answer, at least if going into the Witness Protection Program and disappearing forever just wasn't an option.  Love the idea about what would happen if someone actually *did* do it, though.   And was smart enough to get away with it...

Oooops?

No, I did not drop off the face of the planet, things just got a little hectic, as usual.  Between school, work, and Chris, my life sometimes feels like a tornado in progress. 

Lots of things going on - I'll try to make a short list here.  Last Sunday, Chris and I attended the Deadly Divas tour at  the Bolingbrook Barnes & Noble.   Heather Webber, Denise Swanson, Marcia Talley, and Sara Rosett were in attendance, unfortunately, Elizabeth Lynn Casey had to miss this tour.   It was a blast!  I had been talking to Heather via Facebook and blog comments about it for a couple of weeks, so she was forewarned about me being there.  I also warned her about my new strategy for autographs: Since I've more than likely already bought the ebook, and since Li'l Bit has handwriting recognition,  I just have them sign a new document in Paint that I can save as .png.  Then I can make a neat wallpaper with all the autographs, or insert them into the ebook files.  Heather was also kind enough to sign my ARC of Truly, Madly that I got through the Firstreads program at Goodreads.   The picture that Marcia Talley took with her iPhone of Heather signing Li'l Bit turned up on her blog on Monday, which I thought was pretty darn cool! 

Won blog commenter of the month for March at Elizabeth Lynn Casey's blog - I had my pick of prizes, but chose an autographed copy of the first Sewing Circle Mystery, Sew Deadly.  Received it and it's in a place of honor on my ARC and autographed shelf on my desk.  I'm going to have to slow down on winning these, though, that shelf is getting close to full!  I have titles on there from Julie Hyzy, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Kimberly Frost, Sheila Connolly, and of course Elizabeth Lynn Casey. 

Details E-Publishing is taking off.  Julie Hyzy asked me to format three manuscripts for her, and Lorraine Bartlett asked me to do a few for her, as well.   I hope to have all those done and back to them at the end of day, Sunday. 

I get spring break from classes - basically a week and a half off, since week 8 is super short for these classes.  Next session is the long-dreaded Accounting 2 and Database Management.  I may drop off the planet again for the duration.