Allie Potts's Blog, page 37
January 11, 2014
The romanticized villian
My husband and I were both recently made victims of cyber crime. I was one of those misfortunate enough to have their credit card information put at risk during Target’s security breach ahead of Christmas while one of my husband’s employees made the mistake of opening an attachment from an unknown source on one of the company computers.In my case, my bank was made aware of the breach before I was and responded by sending me a new card. Additionally I was have been notified that I will receive...
January 6, 2014
Performance and Character Reviews
Yes, I do have direct reports (no I didn’t force them to buy my book), and yes I do dread the performance review as much as they do or more. Why is that? Because my work requires us to complete reviews in a one-size-fits all format which can putpeople on the defensive. Additionallymy office is not very large and so I am very familiar with why an individualdid or did not complete their annual goals for the year without the need for another meeting.
The part I dislike though most about the proce...
January 4, 2014
Standing out in the crowd
I am what some may call vertically challenged. For this reason standing out in a crowd has always been somewhat difficult for me.
My husband towers over a foot above me, which has proven helpful time and time again. He might have difficulty finding me, but at least I can see him.During thepast few times we ventured out for New Years citywide celebrations, I’ve chosen to wear distinctive hats to help him better identify me in the masses.It is a strategy that may havehelped us reduce the number...
December 30, 2013
Oh the best laid plans…
The pages and pages of discarded stories I’ve started and never finished over the years taught me that I am one of those writers who has to have the majority of the story including chapters, scenes, and major plot points before I write page one. It was a practice that worked wonders on my last attempt. I was able to set myself a daily goal and then click clack clack slowly, but surelyI was there.
This time though I am encountering something I hadn’t planned for, an unruly protagonist. I am now...
December 28, 2013
A Humorist take on Modern (Southern) Etiquette Dilemmas
Rude Bitches Make Me Tired: Slightly Profane and Entirely Logical Answers to Modern Etiquette Dilemmas by Celia Rivenbark
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was told to check out this local author by a colleague. Admittedly the title was enough to pick it up off the shelves for further investigation. While it is advertised as being a modern day etiquette book, I found it to be more along the lines of a lengthy newspaper humorist column.
The format is set in question and answer format and while I don’t be...
December 25, 2013
Strong characters wanted
The presents have been unwrapped, my house now refilled with fire trucks, transformers, and even a starter skateboard – you know, typical boy stuff. I swear if I still get the occasional adult acne it is because of all the testosterone I am exposed to daily in a house full of growing males.
My mom stopped by to enjoy a cup of coffee while the grandkids tore into their gifts. She offered to take my eldest son to see either Frozen or Walking with Dinosaurs later this week. My son, not being fami...
December 22, 2013
That’s a wrap
There is a good chance that I may have forgotten a person or two on my shopping list, but I believe I may just be done with my holiday shopping, and I hope that I helped 5 others finish theirs a well.
For the past month I have been running a giveaway contest on goodreads.com. 5 copies of my book were up for grabs. The contest ended in the wee hours of this morning and the lucky five winners were chosen completely at random out of 822 entrants.
Looking at the results, I was happy to see that the...
December 18, 2013
Getting on the Shelf
Up until now, my strategy with regards to book sales had been nearly completely focused on electronic sales. I had heard so many stories about how difficult it was for the self-published author to get shelf space within the traditional brick and mortar store that it just wasn’t an avenue that I thought would be worth my time to pursue. Besides, I positively adore my e-reader, it is the wave of the future right???
Well e-readers may still be the wave of the future, but the feedback I received f...
December 16, 2013
Fact: women are more successful self-published authors
Reblogged from Belinda Williams:
According to the recent Taleist survey of self-published writers, women authors are more successful than men.
Does this fact surprise you? It surprised me - not because I lack faith in my female counterparts (far from it), but because when you compare it to the traditional book publishing industry, it's the men who dominate.
A good example of the situation women face in the traditionalpublishingworld isdocumentedby
As a female self-publi...
December 11, 2013
Celebrating my first peer review
To say that I was a little nervous when my book was first published would be a bit of an understatement. Not only were my friends and family going to read it, but so were random strangers who might not have my same sense of humor, or pick up on sarcasm in the manner in which I intended. So it was with some trepidation when another blogger and fellow author indicated that she would be willing to write a review.
Well I am happy to report that the review is in and while it might have been nice to...
