Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Autumnal Aspirations

This is the first week of September. 

Summer has come to a close, and the Autumnal Equinox is right around the corner.  September is also the beginning of Latino Heritage Month, and many independence day celebrations throughout Latin America (specifically Central America).  This also marks four months that I've been back in New York.

The Summer has been bittersweet.  I've been lucky enough to experience a good number of the cultural events and institutions that we have in NY since my return.  At the same time, I've vended at a number of cultural and literary events, and haven't done well financially at all.  I've also faced some adversity in trying to organize some of my own literary events.

The one good thing that I can say is that I've been able to network with a number of people that I've met this summer.  Hopefully, that networking will pay off for me, and lead to bookings for some events.  I've been trying to team up with some other authors that I know, and work on creating a joint book signing tour.  I'll let you know how that works out...

At least I'm still writing and networking.  I've been talking to several establishments about getting my works stocked  on their shelves.  Unfortunately, they're either completely unresponsive, or they're taking their sweet time to review my books, and get back to me with a response.

Seriously...do I really need to harass you just to get a simple 'yes' or 'no' answer out of you?!?!  How long does it take you to look at your fucking calendar to see if the date that I requested to hold a book signing event at your store is open or not?!?!  Really, people?!?!?

I can't really say that the majority of the resistance is because I'm 'unknown'; everyone has to start from scratch.   I also can't really blame it on arrogance or egotism on the part of the business owner (or, employee; though I've met a few asswipes).  I know that a lot of this is based on personal relationships, and I'm still getting to know people.  Most of my contacts that were originally here, have either moved on to other things, or have left the state.  At the same time, people should be open to networking with newer talent.

I'm still keeping my head up.  Hopefully, I can get this book singing tour off the ground.  If not, I might have to work on some solo literary events.  I need to gain some sort of traction going.  I'm not trying to go back to the regular corporate workforce.  I just really need to get my foot in the door....

The saga continues....

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