Everybody Wants Something

Can I gripe for a sec? Everybody wants something!

They said computers would make our lives easier. Spoken like an aging boomer, I know. But “back in the day,” we wanted more free time. We wanted freedom from the constant cycle of cleaning, cooking, and cleaning again. So we got stuff.

• We got refrigerators, which did away with the trek to the ice house.
• We got dishwashing machines, which, well, honestly, didn’t do away with much, since we still have to get the food off the plates, put them in and take them out and put them away.
• We got permanent-press clothing, which, if you also have a dryer, and if you’re home and remember to take the clothes out before they wrinkle, and shake them and straighten them out and fold or hang them, might be worn without pressing. Unless you’re really going somewhere.
• We got computers, which freed us from starting the typing job over, or endlessly backspacing to correct errors with white corrective tape. But then we needed time to learn each program. And its updates. And the internet. And the ad-blocking. And the onslaught of every imaginable ploy to get us to sign up, follow, like, comment, review and take a survey.

But I digress. Or do I? I mean, with so much stuff popping up that I ought to save, do, improve, learn. . . it’s hard to say what I was going to say in the first place. Do you feel me?

Oh, yeah, so I was talking about how everybody wants something.

• Signing up for emails means one more thing. . . deleting and unsubscribing from the subsequent onslaught from 1,001 others who also got your email. Somehow. And maybe unsubscribing from each one of those, more than three times each, until they finally get the message.
• Following a blogger, an instagram, a facebook, pinterest or X’er all leads to more stuff popping up that gets in the way of what we wanted to see in the first place. Like the baby’s first steps when grandma lives in Wisconsin and baby lives in New York.

And reviews. Now we have to read through reviews on items to decide if they’re real, if the review is real or if it’s all more AI-produced baloney to sell products. Taking the time to write a review for a product or book that we really love, or doing a survey for an employee that really went above and beyond the call of duty. . . is there really time or energy or even motivation left for that?

All that stuff eats up our time. And we still have to cook, and clean, and cook, and clean.

But, as it turns out, here’s the reality. No one sells any books–whether published by a big house or self-published–without email lists and reviews. As I approach the release of my first and most-important novel, the one I’ve been working on for what feels like my entire life, I’m tasked with the necessary evil of asking readers to sign up to receive emails, and to post reviews. Ugh.

Thus, it is with my sincere apology that I have to be someone who wants something, too.

I’m asking for email subscribers and book reviews. I’m so sorry, guys. But the book is worth it, and I promise to never spam ya’ll. Because, you know, the golden rule. . .

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

So here it is. If you’d like to receive notices of upcoming publications and don’t mind a newsletter with some cool freebie every month or LESS, click here to sign up. THIS LETS YOU EMAIL DIRECTLY, so in the subject, type YES NEWSLETTER. Then hit SEND. Voila, you’re all set.

This is NOT the same as signing up in the follower box to the right. That link lets WordPress notify you when I post a new blog here. The “click here” in blue ink (PARAGRAPH ABOVE) lets you actually send an email straight to my newsletter inbox so I can add you to my direct email list.

Much Love & Happy Reading,

Joan T. Warren