The alarm went off at 5:30am for Neal. I didn’t need to get up till 7am. He didn’t budge so I snoozed it. 9 minutes later it went off again…again he didn’t budge, so I snoozed it. This went on till it was 6:00am and finally he made the move to get out of bed so I reached over and changed the alarm to 7:00am. I thought for sure Neal would do me the favor of taking the dogs out (as they were racing about the room, collars jingling, anticipating feeding time) but he went straight for the bathroom, shut the door and turned on the shower. Already frustrated from having to spend 1/2 hour of what could have been MY sleep snoozing HIS alarm I pushed the covers back with a audible huff (though he was in the shower so it fell into silence) and got up to take the dogs out.
That’s how the morning began. By 8:45am I was already in a major tizzy because I’d spent the last hour running Ryan to piano, dropping off a check at the Window Shop’s store and then got a phone call from Ryan because he’d forgotten two piano books (and I was across town). By the time I made it for my 9:00am shift to do the garage sale my shoulders felt like they were raised above my ears with tension and seeing the pile of junk waiting for us outside of the youth center didn’t make it any better.
*sigh*
It was 1:00pm when I felt I could be in a ‘good place’ to speak with The Book Worm about the signing contract. With my attitude (and yes, I admit it is my attitude that needed the most adjustment) the way it was, I knew to wait till I could at least pretend to be understanding and congenial. 🙂 (Goodness…God surely was not able to ‘show up’ through me up to that point so I guess He felt He needed to force the issue) When I called the owner she picked up and sounded very quiet. I asked if I it was not a good time to talk and she informed me she was in the hospital! Even though I knew deep down with an instinct that things weren’t going to work out for the signing (I just couldn’t accept their contract for many valid/unfair reasons) I also knew this was a chance to be who I knew God called me to be… a caring Christian. I was very apologetic, not even bringing up the issue of the signing and the contract to find out what was decided, etc and told her I was here to pray for her. Just before I got off the phone she told me she didn’t want to leave me in wait and that her accountant and husband ‘advised’ her that she should keep the contract as it was. She was very apologetic saying, “I wish I wasn’t having to tell you this as I know your book will affect so many and it is a worthy project. You have every right protect your ‘business’ and have the ability to help the organization, but I’m just trying to protect my business too.”
I won’t go into specifics (well, anymore than I already have) but I will say that if you know me and my ‘purpose’ for EXPOSED it is not first and foremost to make money…but I can’t afford to literally give the book away either. At any rate, though Book Worm and I don’t have a ‘partnership’… I do pray for it’s owner as I could hear the fear in her voice. It is never fun to sit in a hospital bed to be probed and prodded not knowing what is wrong.
God has His plan. I turned right around and called Best Wishes Gifts and she was very excited to have a signing in August with a much more plausible and realistic contract. AND I figured out why Barnes & Noble wasn’t carrying it in store…and that is getting worked out ( a glitch in their computer communications with my publisher)…so hopefully soon I can announce it will be in their stores as well!
All in all, this day still ranks as one to just end, go to bed, and start all over with a brand new day. 😉
Blessings
Shannon