In a few weeks, we go on a road trip, some of which will be spent in three different (identical) vehicles, "wrapped" with our book jacket.
New York to DC; Seattle area; and LA/SanDiego will all be in the "Sword mobile." The crowning jewel to an already bedecked tour, was an invite from an ex-politico to attend a soiree in our honor at his Los Angeles home (and sell books!), but alas "the schedule" may now prevent us from attending our own party. Sadly, we may have to cancel that one. Oh, well: that's politics.
One last gripe -- and this might demand an entire post at some point: Out Of The Office. It seems, in this modern world of ours, that every time I send an cc:ed email to a publisher, one or more of the recipients are "Away From The Office for the next 9 weeks, please contact my assistant." Thing is, this happens EVERY week, all year long, implying some of these figures are mythical -- collecting checks, when in fact they don't occupy an office. Does the company know this? Do they have truancy officers in corporations? Who's manning the store? What's curious about this is I happen to know these people, and I know for a fact that they carry a Blackberry or iPhone; I do, in fact, often hear back from them within a few minutes of my sending the email, which means they are using their devices and keeping current the way THE REST OF US DO when we're away from home/office (constantly, in my case, for the next seven months!) SO WHY POST THE OBNOXIOUS MESSAGE in the first place and clog our in-boxes with invalid blow-offs? Just a thought: omit the automatic reply next time. If you want your assistant to handle it for you, then forward or cc: your inbox email to your assistant. It would save the rest of us from deleting all those auto-replies.
And now I'm off... to practice my driving.
Ridley
Ridley, if you ever decide to give up writing, you could become an actor, maybe in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
ReplyDeleteLove the vans. Neutral about the out-of-the-office e-mails because I don't get many of them.
I am toying with this auto reply:
ReplyDelete"Paul is in the office but does not feel compelled to answer e-mails."
Make sure you keep your Naked readers apprised of your whereabouts on tour.
Blackbeard used to set his beard on fire when attacking a ship. Just a suggestion...that's all.