“Time for our daily stretch.”

My favorite thing to do on Valentine’s Day? Hang out at New Seasons Grocery store. You will have seen previous posts from overhears there, but this one shows why I love hanging out there so much. The loudspeaker went on to invite all customers to put down their baskets and reach, reach, reach up over their head. “The store that cares for your health,” they say at the end and I believe it.

There is a level of customer service that comes from a perspective of care rather than profit or sales. This is something that can’t be faked. It is sort of like Santa in A Miracle on 34th Street, when he sent customer to a competitors store for missing items. Ask about a product at New Seasons and they will offer you a taste or test. I never feel like this is only a ploy. When I walk away I am convinced they want me to get the best product I can.

As an author I can understand this. With my new novel being released my entire marketing plan is based around finding the readers I think will really, truly enjoy it. This is not always as easy as it might seem. Readers are told by reviewers and authors and booksellers that every book is the best one. The good news is that I am sure all of these sources believe it; for the most part I don’t think they are trying to trick anyone. 
 
But, the fact is, not all readers will like every book. Some books aren’t written in the right style (just ask my husband about first person, present tense). Other books are about topics or in genres that simply aren’t interesting to the reader.

So, how do I find the readers who really will like my book? I think it is all about authenticity. If I am honest about my reviews, good and bad, if I am really present in the Facebook and Twitter friends I feeds I follow, if I care about the topics in my book and allow others to see my concern, I think my readers will understand that what I write comes from my heart and hopefully is my own Valentine to them.

Enjoy!
UNTANGLING THE KNOT - now available:
Kindle Format - Amazon
Other formats (including Nook and Kobo)- Soulmatepublishing

Also read, An Unlikely Valentine - A free short story based on Untangling the Knot, available Feb. 15th 2013 from
FREE READS from the GENRE-ISTAS

“I’ll call the new minister and make sure he can do your wedding.”

Life is full of changes. And, because of this, the most important character trait we are trying to teach our daughter is resiliency. However, what is it about weddings that take this to a whole new level? If Murphy’s Law is that things that can go wrong, will go wrong… then the wedding addendum must be, ‘and it will happen two days before the
ceremony.’

Take my wedding. Our florist completely changed her price quote on us two weeks before the wedding. We fired her, but try finding a good florist with that little notice? And the day after I drove up to Seattle to do a test run of my hair style, the salon called me to tell me the hairdresser had quit and moved to a new salon. Resiliency brought me through these hiccups.  

But, when we lost our third priest just days before the wedding date, I had to question what God was trying to tell us. With 8 months to go, our first priest was moved to a new parish. I was disappointed but knew we would be
fine.

The second priest we had arranged then had a retreat that he (and all the other Jesuits in the area) had to attend during our wedding date. This was much more concerning as it felt like we were out of time and options. Finally, the church found a non-Jesuit priest to marry us. I breathed a sigh of relief, until just three days before the wedding our thirst priest was called to Rome for a special meeting with the Pope. Now really… what are the chances?

Of course the message was all about faith and control (two things with which I struggle). I had to hand it over, knowing that if they got a new priest it would be someone who neither knew us nor probably cared much.

I turned out to be very much wrong. The new priest arranged to meet us for lunch the very next day. He spent some time getting to know us…and then had the humor to help execute a very funny joke on my husband during the ceremony rehearsal (we switched the readings to one my husband knew we didn’t want… If you’d like to find out which reading which readings we switched you can read my new book, UNTANGLING THE KNOT, due out on Feb. 13th:>)

No matter how we might try, weddings, like married life, are messy. Things don’t always go as planned and everything is up for change. But, as I learned during my own mishaps, sometimes it is in these moments that we  experience the true meaning of love and God.