March Madness

March has been mercifully slow at work. February had been a disaster, so I was ready for a break. The problem with work being slow is that I have time and reason to question the validity of my job: Does what I do really matter?

"No one reads anymore," I bemoaned to the BF one night after a particularly grueling do-nothing day. "Unless your last name is Patterson, or you go on Oprah, no one buys your book. What I do doesn't matter!"

True to form, the BF had some clear-headed wisdom. "Look," he said, "your job is much more exciting than most." I had to--grudgingly--agree. The BF and most of the other young people I know have jobs I can't really explain, jobs that vaguely have to do with numbers. On Thursday, his point was proved further.

On that day we had three different authors come to the office. One of them has written a book I absolutely love, that's slated to come out in October. The other two are geniuses in their own right. One, in his early thirties, has already published four highly-regarded books. The other, in addition to being a prolific author, is also a scientist. It was very surprising that all three of them were very easy to talk to.

Amidst all this, a crisis arose. The design for one of our books changed at the last minute. Either the author or the jacket designer (or both) decided they wanted to use fan artwork on the book flaps. The problem was, they needed the artists' permission first, and all they knew were screen names. It was up to me to track down these people and obtain their permission. (Our lawyer drew up a statement which I then sent. I was very impressed that we have a lawyer!) The best part was receiving the fans' responses. They were so thrilled to be included in a book, especially a book by one of their favorite writers.

The experience made me smile; it was just the boost I needed to get through the week. Our authors may not all be bestsellers--even though they deserve to be--but it does not make their work any less important. I am a bit ashamed to have lost sight of that.

...but is it too much to ask to have just one of our authors on Oprah?