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??

A to Z reflections....

Another A to Z challenge comes to an end--- another collection of posts and poetry have been written, another deep breath of relief is released. For my fellow bloggers that survived as well, it's another 'challenge-completed' notch carved into the writing desk. I've come to enjoy my yearly foray into the world of all things alphabetical. This was my third year, though it was only the second year I had a workable theme (which made the challenge substantially easier than the first year I attempted this challenge.) And, though my first year was difficult because my focus was so scattered, I found this year was more difficult because I lost the enthusiasm that came with the first year excitement----excitement which helped me plug along until the end of the challenge. Year 3 was a success in the sense that I completed the challenge, though, this was the year that almost wasn't---- Somewhere about a third of the way through the challenge, I seriously considered

A million lives, beneath a single sky.....

Though our feet leave different prints,our tongues sound different words, there's a mirrored rhythm in the beating of our hearts. Though born in different worlds, our eyes sharpened 'neath different moons, there's an unspoken truth in the warmth of our touch. We may walk in different strides and dream different dreams, we may speak in different voices, maybe swim in different streams. It's plain to see, when dark night falls, as all the stars shine through, that underneath it all, there's no difference 'tween me and you.

Bitter Honey

Weaving dreams of beguiling gold, a future's price for happiness. What secrets do you, determined, hold? asks the summer wind's soft caress. A guarded name, a hidden hope. Spinning wheels clutching time, grasping straw that falls away, What dreams may come, we soon may find, won't recall at end of day. A cherished life, a memory lost.

From the Inkwell, From the Vein.....

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