As everyone around me celebrates I'm faking cheerfulness and excitement.

As everyone around me celebrates my joining the ranks of published authorship I am faking cheerfulness and excitement.

I run a concierges business and people pay me a great deal and trust me with their weddings, events, bank accounts and their children but even if its something as mundane as their laundry there is never, and I mean never, a time when a client of mine is ever wondering what the hell it is I’m doing or not sure about the status of a project or task I’m working on. If there is no bleach to do the whites, I throw in a load of colors and txt my client that I needed to run to the store for blench.

I hate it when I am 40hrs into a job and only two hours away from completion and a client calls to change everything. I hate it! Do my clients know I hate it when they do that? Probably.

Do I tell them I hate it or cope an attitude? Do I bitch and complain about all the time & money that was wasted, or drag my heels or provide poor customer service or provide even worse workmanship? Do I ever ignore a client and do what I think is best (I know he said purple but my favorite color is blue.) Are you fucking crazy? What ever the hell it is I’m doing is not for me …it’s for my client! As long as it’s legal, the only thing I care about is that my client is happy.

Have I and do I make mistakes, or have my word compromised due to outside vendors, shipping times and me just fucking up in general. Hell yes I do, I fucked up a lot of shit in the beginning but you know what, those clients who are no longer receiving services from me are still recommending me to their friends, family, and co-workers. Just last week a woman called me who was referred by a client from when I was 1st starting out that read me the riot act when she cut me lose.

I found out that Darkness was available on Amazon and B&N not from a call from the publisher, but when I was on Amazon looking up someone else’s book and I just happened to type in my ISBN for shits and giggles. Imagine my surprise, when The Darkness, w/o the cover art, the project description, or available to be downloaded to Kindle, popped up as In Stock.

When I clients tells me they need A, B, C, D, & E done they get updates from me at every step and all production stops if things can not be done consecutively until after I TALK to my client just to make sure its ok to proceed and/or to receive alternate instructions.

I shouldn’t have to send 3 emails to ask about anything let alone wait fours days for a response. I should have been be told that the fucking book was on sale, and that it would take both the cover art & Kindle format about 2 weeks before than can be seen and downloaded. I shouldn’t had to ask another author how to set up an profile on Author’s Center and how to opt in for the look inside the book option, I should not be wondering when it will be available on Amazon UK.

I really don’t want to sling mud or air dirty laundry but sometimes its hard not to vent but if I don’t say something to somebody I’ll become belligerent and hostile. Trying to talk to her doesn’t work; trust me I’ve tried a thousand times, for some reason she feels as if she is beyond reproach and only makes things worse.

Every time someone calls, emails, or txt me to say congratulations and to ask how proud I am it only underscores the issues that have yet to be resolved. What I can promise you is this…

Things will be extremely different next time around.