Life changes and questions asked.....

It's strange what you come to think about when life takes a sudden turn. It's also strange the stand you find yourself taking when the sudden turn came from an unexpected direction. I never realized until just a few days ago how much I had tied myself to my store. I never realized just how much of an impact certain changes would affect me.

We are about to lose our General Manager, which opens the possibility of the current Assistant General Manager moving up and the added possibility of me moving into the Assistant General Manager position. I think I'm ready and I'm fully prepared, but doubts have set in about whether or not the higher powers that be will make the wise decision to move us up.

No one thinks about there being politics in a bookstore, but we are a corporation first. By definition we are a business....a business to make money. As much as those of us who work in the store would love for it to be a paradise of the written word, a pleasant place with soft cushy couches and intelligent conversations with no concern for money and corporate politics, we sometimes get smacked square in the jaw that that is exactly where we are.

This "corporate" ideal isn't something I embrace, but I totally respect and understand it. But it definitely proves that my personality isn't meant to stay in the world of suits. The drive to write and become an established author is stronger than ever.

And, yes, while I completely understand that selling books as an author is just as much about business as it is about the writing, I hope that having the perspective of a bookseller and bookstore manager will allow me to be even more prepared and understanding when it comes to the business side of publishing.

It would be idealistic to expect that being a writer would preclude me from being involved in business. I'm not that naive or ignorant, I'm just hoping that it "feels" different from the business issues I'm dealing with on the corporate end. Is that too much to ask for??

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