Discombobulated Is My Middle Name...

And that will be obvious as you read this poorly assembled post. So much to do, so little time. I have several things to post about today, and I don't know where to begin.

Reviews: The book now has two reviews on Amazon! Very thrilling. All good reviews will obviously help me a bit with the marketing because the book will gain some credibility. Have you purchased the book? If you did, and if you liked it (what's not to like? LOL), please please please take a couple of minutes and review it for me on Amazon. Just a couple of simple sentences about what you like about the book will do, and I would really appreciate it!

Post Office Update: I just visited my new friend M at the post office today. I was sending out more review copies, and she called my number, so I went to her window. I asked her if her supervisor told her that I called, and she said yes, and thanks. She then proceeded to tell me how upset she had been when she looked into those blasted guidelines after I left and discovered her mistake; she didn't want the guy at the other branch to have a bad reputation when she was wrong all along. She said she called me ON HER DAY OFF, but that I had to know the real story behind these guidelines. She was very cute about it, but actually a little hard on herself, in my opinion. I'd much rather have that, though, instead of someone who could care less. I told her it was all good in the 'hood, and that now we ALL know the guidelines.

NaBloPoMo: I was so irritated yesterday because I tried to type up an initial post, and it was going really great until I tried to attach a link. Then: POOF! It was gone. WAH. So now I have to start it all over again...but at that point, I had to walk away from the computer! By the way, I created two blog groups on NaBloPoMo: All About Pets and Beagle Bloggers. I also joined the Chicago Bloggers group. Anyone out there want to join me?

Progress made today: I sent out (as I mentioned above) 4 more review copies. Julie has thrown a bunch of great ideas my way for marketing, and one of them that I love is the website petsugar.com. I've read popsugar.com, but there are lots of others (if you go to petsugar, scroll down to the bottom and you'll find the listing of all their other "Sugar" sites). Julie told me that petsugar is a relatively new "branch", so I sent them a copy of the book. I also sent a copy to a magazine called Modern Dog. I saw it in the bookstore yesterday and it looks like a great magazine. It comes from our friends to the north--no, not Wisconsin--Canada! What I loved was, when I called the toll free number to ask who I should address my book to, the woman who answered the phone was VERY friendly. I am on a roll with great customer service!

I have begun making follow-up phone calls to the pet boutiques who received my letters. I don't enjoy the phone calls, I must say. I would much rather get in my car and visit everybody but, besides it being very unprofessional to pop in without making a phone call first, the vast area I would have to cover would make it a huge waste of time, energy, and gasoline. So making phone calls it is! I had a couple of positive exchanges during today's calls; a couple of store owners want to see the book. One shop doesn't stock books but the owner said he has a "community board" that I am welcome to post on, so that's a good thing. Moving right along!

Beagle Rescues: I am starting to hear from the Beagle Rescues that I sent information to; they seem really excited about the book and I am hoping that they will be a major part of my marketing. More to come on that as it happens!

Bijoux's name: It occurred to me that after I started posting my essays about Bijoux/the real Ruby, I totally skipped over the introduction that I wrote! Well, I won't post the whole thing out of order now but I will post about how Bijoux got her name, because that information is important in the path leading to Ruby. Stay tuned for that.

Identify yourself, please: I am starting to get "hits" from all over the world, which is really exciting for me. Please feel free to leave a comment and introduce yourself. You don't have to have a google account to put a comment up; you can post under "anonymous" if you want. I'd love to hear from you!

To my friends in the Land Down Under: I asked M at the post office to weigh a book package and tell me how much it would be to get it to you, and the postage is $5. So if any of you all the way down there would like to order one directly from me, e-mail me using the link over to the right and we'll get that set up.

I think that's it for now. Isn't that enough? My goodness! I'm exhausted just typing about it! Have a great evening...more tomorrow!