Pet peeves

We all have things that bother us. Some are very minor, like the way a person in my carpool slurps his coffee in the morning, or the hee-haw laugh another co-workers has. But some pet peeves are so offensive, I have to speak up.

What's got my panties in a wad, you ask?

e-mail signature lines.

hate 'em... with a passion.

Not all of them, mind you, just the real long ones.

I belong to a number of on-line loop groups. I get lots of e-mail from many different people. I detest signature lines that are longer than the post. Why does an author feel that she must list every book published in the last five years plus those books coming in the next five, plus all the blogs she posts on, plus her own website!

And I'm not exaggerating!!!

I'd post examples, but then I would be personally attacking an author and I don't want to do that.

All I'm asking is that writers are conscience of the length of their signature lines. If it's too long, I don't read it. And I suspect I'm not the only person in the world who feels this way.

Family Values

Family Values

In my town, a minister of a contemporary church spouts family values. He preaches against the evil and sin in the world and asks us to pray with him (and give money to his church). Recently, he has been arrested for indecent exposure. A year before, he was arrested for drunk driving. How hypocritical is that!

I know that each of us are flawed because we are human and I don't expect a minister to be a saint. But I would expect a minister who preaches family values to be upholding them. There are many many people in this world who have not been arrested for drunk driving or exposure. These offenses are not minor, like a parking ticket or an honest mistake like a car accident. These are sinful choices that he deliberately made.

Recently, I received a written scolding after suggesting to a published author that she not recommend Walmart as a retail store to buy her books. I have a problem with a corporation that puts profits over the well-being of their employees. It is a documented fact that the wages Walmart pays are below poverty level and that fewer than 20 percent of employees have medical, retirement, or other benefits.

What made the scolding even more ~interesting~ is this author writes Christian inspirational books. She sees Walmart not an an "evil entity", but as a store with strong family values.

WalMart is a store that promotes family values by refusing to carry music CDs with lyrics containing explicit sexual and violent language. WalMart is a store that wields enormous power over romance publishers because it won't sell books with racy covers. WalMart is the single largest retailer of mass-market and bestselling romance novels, so many publishers (including Harlequin) design their bookcovers with WalMart standards in mind. I'm glad about all of that.

WalMart is very much aware that a huge percentage of their customers are conservative Christians. That's why they sell all kinds of Christian books, videos, and music CDs. That's why they're bucking the national trend and wishing customers a "Merry Christmas" when other stores have watered that down to "Happy Holidays." For a secular store, WalMart is EXTREMELY friendly to conservative Christians.

She also noted that Walmart is a good employer.

I don't believe that WalMart treats its employees badly and rapes local economies. My mother-in-law worked at WalMart for years and loved it. She made a fair wage and worked her way up to department manager. She retired about four years ago, but is still a WalMart shareholder. The WalMart she worked for has provided many needed jobs in her small Texas town. That WalMart has boosted, not hurt, the local economy. It has also made a number of charitable contributions that have directly benefited that town.

That statement may be true for a small Texas town that had no other retail stores, but it's not true for many northern larger towns. The wages received in a small Texas town may be good for a person in a dual income household. But those same wages will not supply a single mother living up north with two children all the money she needs to survive.

I am of the belief that a person's actions speak louder than their words. Walmart is only promoting "family values" as a facade for marketing. They wouldn't be doing it if they weren't making money. If Walmart was truly a family friendly corporation, why won't they treat their own employees with more consideration?

It can be done. Costco is a well known retail corporation that may not have a strong presence in the "fammly values" arena, but their employment policies are extremely family friendly. They pay higher wages then Walmart and provide full benefits. In return they have a higher retention rate among employees with less turnover. Walmart does not care about the well being of their workers, Costco treats them fairly, a true "family value."

Preaching family values and living them are two entirely different phenomenon. Actions speak much louder than words.

WEN Conference

I had the privilege of attending a conference aimed at entrepreneurial women. The energy in the place was electrifying! These women were movers and shakers of the business world. There were many different workshops presented, my favorite being a mock-tail party. Since the party was held early in the morning, it was too early for real cocktails. The idea was all networking.

In this session, we learned networking skill. Moderated by Heather and Miriam, these two high energy women guided us through the dos and don’t of successful networking. We were given tips on starting a conversation, asking for what we specifically want, getting clear replies, gracefully exiting a conversation, jump starting conversation stalls, business cards, leaving the impression you want, joining groups, and follow-up after the event.

I met so many new people! It was amazing. I went with the intention of getting speakers for my local RWA chapter meeting. At the end of the day, I had five solid prospects of women who were willing to talk to our group of writers. I usually started the conversation with humor. I would say, “I’m trolling for speakers for my group.” That would start the conversation, because the other person would want to know what kind of group. I would hold up the business card of our local chapter and explain that I am the president of a group of romance writers.

I don’t think anyone in the room had ever met a romance writer before. I did explain that I was unpublished and gave a very brief background of my writing career and talk more about the group. Each writer will be a business professional upon being published.

Rebecca is in the business of marketing and direct mail. She also does web design. The emphasis is on sales and getting your name out in the market.

I met Debby Peters who is a certified Networker. Honest! I didn’t know one could get certified in networking. She was one of the friendliest people there. When I asked her to speak, she didn’t hesitate and immediately agreed. She could really help our group by giving us tips on networking. Writers do a LOT of networking. We meet people all the time, like readers, editors, other writers, and agents.

Angie organizes home, office and life. I hope that she could gives us some tips on how to stay organized in our total life.

Ellen has a business that does public relations. She created the mayors campaign slogan and would be a big help to our members to give us some tips on doing PR and if and when we need public relations person.

The last person I met actually sought me out. Linda is one of the officers of the WEN and had seen my registration and application come through for the conference. She wanted to know who I was and what I did. I was very happy to share with her all about romance writing. Again, she had never met a romance writer before. Linda’s business helps people with the financial side of running a business. She made many business plans for the women of the group. I would love her to tell our group about planning and why it’s important to have a plan for their business. Even if the business is the business of writing. I think it’s just as important for a writer as it is for any other business.