I don’t know about you, but when I receive just a little bit of information about something — especially if it’s not in the Good News Department — I wonder. Sometimes I even stew about it. Today was one of those days because of one of those things.
Actually, it began yesterday when my friend Marion wrote from Olympia that she had ordered Historic Haunts of the Long Beach Peninsula from Amazon and: there was some kind of glitch so they refunded my money. I decided to go through Time Enough Books in Ilwaco as they could ship it out right away.
My first thought: Bless you, Marion. My second: What went wrong at Amazon?
Then, today, I received a Facebook message from my friend Isabelle in France: I’m looking forward to get my copy. The delivery is being delayed. Have a great date, Sydney. Wish I were in the area and could attend the presentation and signing of your New Book. I wrote: Amazon? Yes, she told me, but she is choosing to give it a few days before ordering anew from a local bookstore.
For me, those bits of information were the tip of an iceberg. Where was the problem — with Amazon or with History Press? Would the books I’ve ordered for my book signings arrive in time? What’s the rest of the story as Paul Harvey used to say? I got in touch with marvelous Elysia who handles all my book orders. She was wonderfully reassuring: It must be an Amazon problem. Did they specify what the issue was? We have plenty of inventory and are shipping without issue.
Whew! The iceberg seems much less ominous — in fact, melting as we speak. Take note, dear readers. Buy locally!!!