Saturday, May 26, 2018

Finally! My author copies arrive!


My author copies of Bring Jade Home were scheduled to arrive on the 23rd of May. The UPS on line tracking said "Out for delivery." I waited. And waited. Nothing. The next morning, I started to panic. "No further information available."
The package had disappeared after going through 10 different arrival scans and departures, all the way from Helena MT to Sturtevant, WI. That's the usual UPS destination before arrival in Lake Geneva.
I contacted UPS via email. No response. As the day went on, I contacted the shipper, my publisher, Farcountry Press. They had to follow up on their end.
I talked to the local UPS shop in Lake Geneva. He said, "I've known packages to arrive at seven at night, but no later."
Farcountry's Vicki was wonderful, trying hard on her end to figure out what was going on. She spoke to Farcountry's UPS representative. "It was lost, somewhere in Illinois, and they are shipping it back to Wisconsin."
It reappeared in Sturtevant after a sojourn in the middle of Illinois. Now, would it arrive on Friday, the 25th arrive the following Tuesday? That would be too late to bring with me to Yellowstone. 
On Friday the 25th, I waited hopefully refreshing the tracking screen. "Out for delivery." Five o'clock came and went. My hope started to diminish with each passing minute.
The irony wasn't lost on me. My book is about a lost dog. Still, Jade was found.
Paul and I had dinner, watching the clock. "Do you think it'll come today?" he asked me  around six thirty. I replied,"No."
At a quarter to seven, the "witching hour," I refreshed the screen one more time.
"Delivered."
Was it really physically here?
 I sent Paul to the campground office and....you know the rest.
Thank you Vicki, thank you author book gods, thank Farcountry Press. I have my books and they are flippin' beautiful. 

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