Showing Appreciation for the Good Things in Life

Today has been an interesting day even though it’s been rather quiet at work.

For one thing, I received my official notification that I had made the ‘elite’ group who will be rewarded for my efforts with a trip to London at work. I knew it was coming but it was still a thrill to get the email that congratulated me and made it ‘official’.

It makes me appreciate my job and my company even more than I do already. While I do think that good workers shouldn’t need incentives dangled in front of their faces like a greyhound at a racetrack, I do think that they make things more fun. I’d like to think that I’d do my job just as well with the incentives but it definitely makes the stakes a little higher.

The interesting thing about incentives is that they play a dual role. Certainly, they give us something to work towards. You dangle a free trip to London in front of me and I’m going to bloody well make sure I get to go. Yet there’s another side to it. It creates a huge sense of loyalty and pride in my company that they actually want to reward us like this and that they actually do. Compared to my last company whose main rewards included awkward bagels and even more awkward organized social events, the differences are glaring. Even on my worst days here, I don’t have to talk myself into getting out of bed and going to work. I don’t have to blast rebellious music as I drive in order to psych myself up to face another day. I don’t have any overwhelming urges to throttle my boss with a yoga strap. Nor do I have to retreat to The Most Optimistic Bathroom in the World in order to make myself giggle at the absurdity of it all.

No, even without the rewards, I like this job because they make me feel appreciated. Even without the trip to London or the occasional cash bonuses we get, the fact that my boss tells me that I’m doing a good job does wonders. Our company CEO makes sure he comes to our branch from the main office in Chicago once in a while just to see us all and make sure he knows that our work is appreciated.

So, even though the rewards and incentives are nice, I find that I want to do a good job because I don’t want to disappoint any one. It’s amazing how much of a difference it makes to like and respect your boss because he actually knows what you do on a daily basis. Yes, there’s a little bitterness still there towards my old boss but it’s slowly dissipating in response to my current boss.

I think appreciation goes a long, long way with most human beings. Because there have been times when I’ve done things without so much of a thank you and been hurt, I do try very hard to make sure I thank people when they’ve done something good or nice for me. I try to be a good tipper in a restaurant. I try to make sure people know when what they’ve done means a lot to me. It’s one of those small things that goes a very long way.

Like most humans, I respond well to appreciation. Granted, when the appreciation comes in the form of being granted a free trip to London, I tend to respond rather more excitedly than, for example, with a free leftover promotional favour from a past conference. My old boss once gave me a coaster he found in his office. Sad to say, I was extremely grateful. Needless to say, I’ve made a step up I think.

Another reason my day was rather interesting was because I received another form of appreciation: Fan mail. Now that I’ve made The Reluctant Demon free for e-book download, I’m finding that my “sales” have literally doubled. I’ve had two rather lovely emails already telling me how much the reader has enjoyed my book and demanding to know when the sequel comes out.

It’s a very humbling feeling, I admit. I may not ever make the bestselling lists but to know that people are out there, reading my book and actually liking it is a pretty amazing thing. It’s exciting. My lovely friend, Ms. P, is a librarian and she’s actually put The Reluctant Demon on their library’s “hot summer reading list”. I’m in the company of George R.R. Martin and Jane Austin. I’m slightly awestruck by this but I think it’s pretty fabulous of her. Thanks, Ms. P!

All in all this email is pretty much my way of saying how nice it is to be appreciated. There are times in life when I feel quite the opposite and I do a lot of venting so I thought it would be nice to write about the flipside. I find that one of my flaws is that I’m quick enough to complain and vent but I don’t always remember to be grateful and happy about the things that are good in life. It’s too easy to see the bad sometimes and not so easy to see the good.

So, today, I’m seeing all of the good and appreciating every moment of it. And, to top it all off, tomorrow is Friday and weekends are something else to be truly appreciated, no matter how much we enjoy our jobs.

Happy Friday and thanks for reading!

You've Got (Fan) Mail!

Today started with a bumblebee.

I got to the office at my usual around-7 a.m. time. Today, someone else beat me in though I'm often the first. As I crossed from the stairway to my cubicle, something big and fuzzy caught my glance from the corner of my eye.

Upon further examination, I realized it was a rather large bumblebee. How it got into our building and up to the second floor, I'm not entirely sure. Bumblebees don't seem to wander into buildings as often as flies, mosquitoes and wasps.

I admit, it took me a little by surprise because I wasn't expecting it. Nevertheless, I decided that though the poor thing seemed sluggish and unable to fly, it shouldn't be trapped in our office. So I did the decent thing- I gave it a ride in my Phantom of the Opera mug downstairs and, when outside, I released it onto the ground. Even if it died not long after, at least it died outside with nature and didn't make its tomb our cold and slightly stuffy air-conditioned building. I have a silly soft spot for creatures that get trapped inside. Last week, there was a rather large spider hanging from the ceiling behind my cubicle. Though it sort of made me a little creeped out, I managed to scoop that spider up in my plastic water cup and put it outside where it belonged. I suppose it would have been easier to kill it since there's a lot of spider-phobic folks in our office. However, as I always say, it's not the spider's fault it's a spider and naturally creepy to many people.

Anyway, after the bumblebee, I settled down to work. Then I realized it had been a while since I checked the email on my author website that I created when I published The Reluctant Demon. Lo and behold! I had mail. Better yet, I had fan mail! Four pieces of it, to be exact.

I suppose to some authors, that's not really much fan mail. To me, it was one of the best feelings ever. All of the writers had nothing but kind, sweet things to say about my book. One of them said it was her new favourite book. Another wanted me to know how much fun she had reading it.

I have to confess, I felt like I was on cloud 9. It's my first fan mail ever and it really, really made me feel like a real author. One of the emails had a request to review my book to post on her website and, if possible, to receive and advance copy of my sequel, Emmy Goes to Hell (tentative title), in order to review that. Of course I said yes because, well, that's just a lovely request. Even better, she wrote the kindest, nicest review of my book on her rather nice blog "Fangs, Wands and Fairy Dust." If you want to read it, you can check it out here: http://fangswandsandfairydust.blogspot.com/2010/05/reluctant-demon.html

Her blog is fun and if you're a fan of the paranormal, it's definitely worth checking out. She has a lot of followers so I'm hoping it gets me a few more readers. I'll be sending some materials to Comic Con this year with a friend. I won't be attending, alas. It's a fun adventure but having gone for the past three years, my finances and my sanity need a break. One day, it'd be cool to be a 'professional' there but, for now, I'll live vicariously through my friend who is kind enough to let me send materials to the 'amateur crap' table, as I call it. The 'amateur crap' table isn't really, well, crap but it's the place for writers, comic-book illustrators/writers, poets, filmmakers, etc. to put advertising materials. Generally, when you go to Comic Con, you grab a free bag from one of the many booths giving them away and you just put as much...crap...into it as possible. This includes a sweep of the 'amateur crap' table. I figure if I send some postcards, there will have to be a few people who pick it up and think, "Hey, I'd like to read this."

Still, even with my publicity and promotion, I know I still have a long way to go. For one thing, I really need to get the sequel to my novel written. It's coming along nicely but not as quick as the last one to write just because I seem to have less time. It's much easier to write in the winter since staying inside is the best option. In the summer, there's always something that needs to be done, particularly if you're a hopeful gardener like me.

I also need to keep trying to get my name out there, to get more people to read my book. The fan mail today was wonderful; it made me realize that it's ok to have put my book out there and to let people read it because that's what being an author is all about. It's a nice thing to know that people are reading my book which, really, is why I published in the first place. It's even nicer to know they're enjoying it.

As always, thanks for reading and Happy Wednesday!