Things I should have blogged about this month....

Let me see...


The death and resurrection of customer service:

I grew up in a family of salespeople. When they didn't get their fix at work, they'd come home and try hard to sell each other on political opinions, life views and more. I guess that still happens.

Recently, the meteoric rise of Groupon got me thinking about small business owners in my family.

My lovely aunt owns a jewelry store in Carlsbad, CA, and she mentioned they were going to sign up with Groupon.

I wondered if my dad, who owns a Crown Trophy store in Boulder, had thought of using this service.

I shot off a one line email about it and he returned an essay.

Oh yeah, he'd thought about them. Tried to sign up last fall. He spent a half hour on the phone basically pleading with the salesgirl (for she HAD to be under 25) to let him GIVE Groupon his business.

In case you didn't know, Groupon mostly aims at a young professional female demographic. That means lot's of frilly services, eating out, and some 'things', but things that the ladies would like.

Back to my dad. They were going to offer a personalized ornament for the holidays. That sounded like a good plan.

But NO, the Groupon salesgirl told my dad in no uncertain terms (and with pretty much these words) that he was wasting her time. That because Groupon was the hottest thing out there, she had businesses lined up for days and she wouldn't consider offering his wares.

As a lifelong saleperson himself, Dad was incensed by her attitude, but what could he do? Nothing.

I don't know if I can really boycott Groupon for the behavior of one ill-mannered salesgirl, but something tells me they should use some of that multi-billion dollar valuation to raise capital to pay for some customer skills training.

They me be hot now, but they aren't doing anything new and someone else will come up with something better before long.

Customer needs to be resurrected.

ABNA 2011:

YES! It's that time of year again. With NaNoWrimo just two months behind me, I've cleaned up my MS once more and am submitting. 2011 is my year! I know it!

In case ABNA doesn't work out:

I have other plans.

This is the year I'm committed to querying. Hold me to it people. If I can't get someone to pick up Varuna Kannon(and her possible series) by the time my little guy turns TWO, then I may have to consider a different writing path.

To show my commitment to publication (or at least getting representation), I will again attend the Western Washington SCBWI conference with my sweet, sweet friend The Angsty Writer Megan Bostic. AND I'm popping for the manuscript consultation.

Also, I plan on entering this version of my MS in at least ONE other writing contest than ABNA.

No hard feelings, ABNA, but I need to broaden my pool.

General Writing:

I'm surrounded by talented, caring, literary folk who I adore, and I just wanted to say that. Some are in person friends, many are online, but all are wonderful. :)

Motherhood:

Seems to suit me.

I love my little man and he loves me and we love each other for loving each other.

And we both love the daddy too!

I'm finding a very happy balance between all things domestic, mothering, writing and yoga.

Maybe I'll squeeze some more gardening in this year.

And paint a picture.

And quilt.

Okay, just kidding about the last one.

Politics:

Had that on my mind a lot, but have since blocked it out due to some related trauma that occurred in the last month or so.

Doing much better now and curious to see how the national debt is reigned in.

~~~~~

So, that about rounds out what I should have blogged about this last month. Will try to make this a weekly habit for the next couple of months.

I think I can do that.

I think.

Peace

A Pink American