Asia & Chocolate

It's like Christmas around here ... (opening all those boxes!!)

I am privileged to work at a wonderful book publishing company where I love my job and my co-workers.

(Seriously, those people are some of my close friends.)

While my job can be fun most of the time, it can also be challenging. Yesterday was sort of a fun challenge and I decided I'd let you guys in on a little of what I do every day.

A big part of my job is placing orders for printers around the world to print our books and ship them. After each printing of a book, I receive samples of what they have printed. This lets me know that they did what I told them to do, and gives us a record of each printing. I subsequently have to file these books in our library. I guess you might say I'm part librarian ( a childhood dream of mine) - HA!

We've started a new shipping procedure, though, and yesterday I received about 10 boxes of books that needed to be filed in the library. I seriously took me ALL day to file them all. (I usually get about 1-2 boxes a day, NOT 10!!!)

See all of these books on top of the shelf? I had to put all of those in the right spot ...

Whew! It took me a long time to get that done ...

So you want to write a book?

As an employee of a book publishing company, I sometimes get books or book proposals sent my way. I could work in the mailroom for all these people know, but they think that because I work there I have some direct line to the top. While I am able to voice my opinions at work if I want to, I am not a publisher. 

There are better ways to get your book published than sending it to a production assistant.

If you want to get your book published, read Michael Hyatt's blog post on Advice to First-Time Authors.

Good stuff.

If only they all thought that way ...

Great Production
By: Andrew T. Le Peau

"Design, production, and manufacturing, in many publishing houses, are not considered as glamorous as editorial or sales, and may be looked upon a secondary. They should be viewed as quite the reverse," says publishing guru Tom Woll (p. 161). Why? Well, how many times have design and production saved editorial's and marketing’s behind when an author was late or a book needed to come out early? How many times has great jacket design made customers give a second look at something new? And how much money has been saved by shrewd print buyers?

Woll rightly points out, however, that it is unwise and unfair for others always to rely on production to bear the burden of fixing problems. When it comes to scheduling, one guideline we’ve implemented with some success is this: Do not schedule a book for publication until the revised manuscript is in hand.

That could sound draconian, but it works. Why? Authors may not always meet their deadlines because they are not employees of the publisher. So editors, as peers, have a limited set of tools they can use in working with authors to stay on schedule. But authors always want to know, "When will my book come out?" (Not so subtle subtext: "the sooner the better.")

Typically the answer would be, “In nine to twelve months.” By saying it can be scheduled only when the final draft is in hand puts responsibility (and motivation) properly in the author’s hands.

Exceptions? Certainly. A big upcoming event for which the book must be available. A big-name author whose bestseller is wanted by marketing (and probably finance) for this fiscal year. But those should be exceptions, not the rule.

That’s just one idea for trying to deal with the scheduling dragon. Any other good ideas out there?

I will rejoice ... and pray

Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.
For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Though the valley comes will we still rejoice in the LORD. Yesterday was a hard day for me as 10% of my company was let go. This included a former boss and mentor, friends, co-workers - basically 60 members of my work family.

It's hard to process and deal with all of the emotions. That's what my post yesterday was referencing if you hadn't figured that out.

Please pray for my friends who now are out of jobs and for those of us still with the company who have to pick up the pieces.

thriller ...

What's a night in Berryville without some cosmic bowling? Tonight the whole crew went out to dinner and had some bowling fun, evidenced by the rad t-shirts Seth & I are wearing. Music selections included lots of Michael Jackson and Elvis. Good times.

My game was soooo off. I bowled a 76 and then 100. I miss wii bowling. :)

It's back home tomorrow and I'm ready for the weekend! Nothing much going on this weekend, other than going to run 8 miles on Saturday. Looking forward to that. I'm still enjoying my new shoes and nike+ system. Last weekend we did 11 miles, and I felt pretty good during and after. Bring on the half marathon - only two weeks to go!

Papermill tour

I have been in three states already this morning: Tennessee, Maryland and Pennsylvania. And we just finished touring a papermill somewhere in Pennsylvania. It was super hot, somewhat smelly and sticky but also interesting. Now we are on our way to visit one of the printing plants we use to print our books at work. Fun times!

My crazy (work) life.

To say it's been crazy at work would be an understatement. But this picture is a result of hours of labor and toil. :) I paint a grim picture, but it has truly been busy at work with Christmas rush and other factors. And when I walk out to my car and see multiple trucks delivering the books that I ordered, I suddenly feel a wave of accomplishment. YAY!

Working 9-5.

Over the past three weeks I've discovered that my new job does not seem (at least on the surface) to be as blogable as my previous job. My old job dealt with cute kids, a different culture and lots of lessons to learn. It was challenging, yet fun and generally interesting to the public.

But now I work in a cube. Don't get me wrong, the cube life can be very entertaining. But here they can fire you for blogging too freely about where you work. In Indonesia the rules about blogging about work aren't nearly as strict. Rules in general aren't as strict. For example, one time an Australian father once brought up the idea of having a parent release form to be filled out for field day. That was nixed immediately and one teacher/mother spoke up and said: "if their kid gets hurt or dies, we'll just say, sorry your kid died or got hurt. It's not big deal." Such is life in Indonesia. HA!

I love my new job at Thomas Nelson, though, and am grateful for it. I especially love the people ... most of whom are the same from when I worked there before, but some new faces. We have lots of fun while working and I get along with everyone. I especially love the fact that I don't have to take my work home and my boss doesn't call me in the middle of the night giving me an assignment for the next morning. I love the fact that when it's 5 I can leave and go home and not think about it again until I come back. I love our vendor lunches, which are wonderful because they are free (for me). And I love our product: Christian books.

I work in the production department and basically we oversee the books from the time the publisher decides to print it until it's in the warehouse. That includes crunching numbers (making sure it will make a profit), cutting purchase orders, making changes in the cover/text, dealing with any problems from the printer, and making sure the printer gets everything done on time. It's sometimes a stressful job, but for the most part we all have a good time doing it. (There's a lot more to it than that, but you get the general idea.)

I do miss my kiddos, though, and many times with I could be back in Jakarta with them. But I know God has me here for a reason. I'm really enjoying spending time with friends and family and all things America. I'm thankful to be where I am and excited to see where this next year takes me.

Thanks for joining me in the journey ...

Food, Food, and more Food

Come back to Thomas Nelson and you'll never go hungry again. Vendor lunches, that's all I have to say. It's going to be hard to keep the weight under control with all of this food in front of me.

The first two days back in the workplace have been pretty good. Waking up early is not my favorite Driving 45 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes ONE way is not my favorite either, but has to be done. I like the work, though, and I really like the people I work with. It's going to take a while before I remember what I knew before and learn everything that's changed since then, but it'll be fine. My boss is understanding and right now I'm just helping as needed, I don't have a title yet, but will soon.

Calling

I walk through the hallways and think ... this is what I was made to do.


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