wedding madness

We’re four days away. I was feeling the crunch earlier, but just now it really smacked me in the forehead: just four days. I’m excited, and happy, and probably not nearly as stressed as I should be. There’s still a huge to-do list to get done, and guests start arriving tomorrow. Tonight I’m working on finishing up the last bits of the freelance projects I need to turn in, then tomorrow I can focus on roping my visitors into helping me finish the picky stuff.

I’ll be away from here for the next ten days or so, but I look forward to sharing some stories and photos on my return.

this crazy business

Today’s New York Times has an excellent article about the unpredictability of the book business. The most interesting thing I take away from it is the complete lack of customer research in mainstream publishing, which is in part justified by the nature of the product, how no two books are the same, as much as Joe Schmoe Publishing might want to convince me that their latest offering is “just like Harry Potter.”

Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep is used as an example throughout the article. I read the book and can appreciate that she is a good writer, but I really didn’t enjoy the story or the characters and found the ending depressing and unsatisfying. The article touched on the offbeat promotional campaign used to sell this book, but noted that no one is certain what exactly it was that rocketed this book to the success that it enjoyed. It then reported on the disappointing sales of Sittenfeld’s sophomore effort, The Man of My Dreams, which, for the record, I also read and found it to be ultimately disappointing, although better than Prep, in my opinion. I have to wonder how many other Prep readers, like me, were drawn in by the hype, stuck with the book hoping it would get better, and were ultimately disappointed, and, unlike me, skipped the next one.

whew. again.

It took all morning, but I think I have made the hosting switcheroo work, finally. My old host was charging too much, and their customer service was going downhill fast, so when I learned that the Dreamhost account we got for the wedding website could also host my other domains at no extra charge, and that what Dreamhost charges for hosting all of my sites, with tons of extra features, is less than the charge for just one of my other bare-bones websites at the other place, well, that’s what they call a no-brainer.

The only real downside is that I was unaware that my old hosting account was up for renewal and had very little notice, so I jumped in completely unprepared. Word to the wise: If you need to move a WordPress installation, take advantage of the Export function on your existing WP installation before updating the DNS servers and setting up the new installation. I thought simply copying the files would be enough, but it wasn’t.

I am told that there may be some “issues” (and I hate that word being used instead of “problems”) with lost e-mail until the DNS change finishes propagating, so if you send me a message and don’t get a response, you might want to resend in a day or two.

I’ve always wondered . . .

. . . and now I know: How a bobbin works. Simple but effective animation.

always something new to learn

Word of the day: usufruct. 1. the legal right of using and enjoying the fruits or profits of something belonging to another. 2. the right to use or enjoy something. (MW 11)

Obvious once you break it down, no?

One of the things I love best about being an editor is the constant exposure to new ideas, and, believe it or not, to new jargon and new ways of using common words. Between fighting the that vs. which battle and putting “only” where it really belongs in the sentence, I reach for the dictionary at least per chapter/article. Sometimes I’m just confirming what I already know, but many times I’m looking up something new to me. You’d think that would become less common over time, but after sixteen (!) years as a professional editor, it has become even more frequent. Granted, the majority of my work is for academic books and journals, which lend themselves to having to look things up. So many words, so little time.

spot on

One of the most succinct pieces I’ve ever read about race in Hawaii is here.

just another day in northeast Ohio

Less than 24 hours ago, it was sunny and almost 80 degrees. I met a friend at the wine bar and sat outside in my open-toed shoes.

Today, right now, it is snowing. I’m not kidding. My sinuses hate me.

oh well

If someone had to screw up my final four and my shot at March Madness glory, it might as well be the team Wendy and Jill are rooting for.

how to cement my loyalty as a customer

First and foremost, provide a high-quality product at a reasonable price.

Have clear, detailed photos and full and accurate product descriptions on your website.

Promptly answer any questions I have, whether about the product itself or placing a backorder.

When I order nine hundred spacer beads, include a few extras to compensate for the few that will inevitably be malformed.

Use high-quality packets and clearly label each one with the store name, quantity, item description, and item number to make it easy for me to reorder.

Offer a small discount on large orders, but avoid constant mega-sales. (Stores that offer 50% off everything every other week only make me wonder how overpriced their goods are to start with.)

Throw in a little something extra with a large order — nothing very valuable, just a little treat. You never know, I may love it so much that I’ll order more.

Package the order securely but simply, and ship it promptly. Give me the option of low-cost shipping. Better yet, offer free shipping via first-class mail for something that weighs next to nothing. Send me an e-mail when my order ships so I know to look for the package.

Thank you, Artbeads.com, for more than a year of stellar service. I’m looking forward to many more.

%&^*ing spammers

I’ve turned on comment moderation, which I hope will stop the comment spam. Sorry for the inconvenience.