Author: Allie P.

It is hard to keep a closed mind on the open road

by Allie P., posted in Life as I know it

I spent the majority of my recent business trip in Hong Kong, but not all of it. I ventured into mainland China towards the end of my stay into a city I’d never visited before. Though Hong Kong is considered one of China’s assets, it is its own country and there are quite a number of differences between the two. One of the most noticeable, for the casual traveler, is how traffic is handled. Hong Kong has one of the best public transportation systems I have ever experienced. I rarely needed a car to get from one point to another, and that is a good thing for me considering they drive on the right hand side of the road. Mass transit wasn’t an option for me on the other side of the border.

Chinese traffic is similar to American traffic only in that you drive on the left. I was more than a little glad that arrangements had been made to keep me away from the steering wheel during my travel as there are significantly less traffic lights than I am used to, in fact there were several miles that lacked any lights at all. Upon closer inspection I noticed a distinct lack of stop signs as well. These missing elements combined with anything goes type attitude looked terrifying to my inexperienced eye. I thought that in this chaos it was only a matter of time before an accident occurred, but somehow cars were able to maneuver around each other as well as bicyclists, and pedestrians, albeit with excessive (in my opinion) horn honking.

Chinese Traffic Crossing
The Chinese open road

Ahead of my trip I had loaded up on reading material. By pure coincidence, two of the novels I selected were set in dystopian futures. One was Take Me Tomorrow by Shannon Thompson. Set in a world with extreme immigration control and anti-drug laws, the novel asks what is more important, security or personal freedom? The other was Matched by Ally Condie in which our future is made happy by limiting everyone to the mere minimum of personal choice.

In both books, there is an official who is fully aware of the bad qualities of their society, but supports the system anyway. These aren’t evil villains. In their minds order equals group happiness and is valued over individual wants. I have a soft spot for dystopian novels, ever since I first read 1984 by George Orwell. I had always related to the protagonists in these stories, rebelling against their totalitarian regimes. I thought there must be something deeply wrong with the antagonist’s mindset for them to think that what they were embracing was truly in the best interest of society, not just in their best interest.

But then I looked at the street corners where the traffic signs should stand, afraid that at any time a car might come barreling into my side, and realized that I was thinking like the officials, the bad guys/gals. Although I had been there only a day, I thought I knew what they needed better than they did. However, we were on the road several hours and the accident that I was so convinced was imminent never occurred. It might not make sense to me, but I had to admit that, somehow, the system worked for them. Who was I to think that the traffic rules I utilized at home, such as the concept of right of way, were in some way better than that what these people had devised for themselves?

I was reminded that the best leaders do not dictate the rules, but instead provide a tangible goal, and then allow their teams the flexibility to develop their own best method of reaching it. A method based on their own strengths, weakness, and most importantly, their own culture. Who else is better qualified to evaluate those traits than the people themselves? It can be hard to step back sometimes, but just because their method might be different from what you’d do, doesn’t make them wrong. Who knows? They might just surprise you too.

Maintaining an appetite for new things

by Allie P., posted in Life as I know it

The first time you visit another country everything is new and notable. The sounds that chirp and chime at crosswalks are as foreign to your ears as the language. You find yourself laughing at signage that means something completely different at home than what the shopkeeper intended. But its a different experience when you are a repeat visitor. It’s easy to ignore what you’ve already seen before.

I explored a lot during my last visit. It gave me something to do. My visit this time is shorter and it is raining heavily. I am less compelled to go out and revisit the touristy spots I’ve seen before. But just because I am not walking around town doesn’t mean I am not adventuring. I am in Hong Kong after all. I just have to go out to a meal with a group of my colleagues to experience the great unknown.

A group of us went to a nearby restaurant for lunch. I was one of the very few Westerners present. My hosts eagerly scanned a menu written in characters I don’t understand. A waitress stopped by to take our order. I saw her look up at me with a raised eyebrow as my tablemates spoke in Cantonese. I heard several snickers. I consider myself an adventurous eater, but I will admit I grew a little suspicious at the exchange.

In Hong Kong, dishes are typically served as soon as they are ready, rather than waiting under a heat lamp until the whole order is completely. Each plate is designed to serve many in what we refer to in the US as family style. As the guest, you are expected to take your portion first while everyone else waits patiently. This can prove problematic if you aren’t exactly sure what it is you are expected to eat. What if it is supposed to only be a garnish? Oh you mean I am supposed to use that cup of water to wash my chopsticks instead of drinking it? To make matters worse, I hadn’t used chopsticks for awhile and my skills had grown rusty. The food would keep slipping back on the plate. I kept hoping that someone at the table would drop their good manners and dig in if only so that I could copy them, but as my luck would have it, they had all been raised properly.

Dish after dish arrived. Then I saw it. The dish I had suspected was coming was coming. Chicken feet. I pride myself on trying anything… once. But I’d already met that particular challenge and had no interest in repeating the experience. As I graciously declined one of my colleagues looked genuinely puzzled by my reaction. He asked me, “Don’t you live in the South? Isn’t this close to your cuisine?” I laughed thinking about things like gizzards and pickled pigs feet. For the record, I don’t eat those ‘delicacies’ either. Luckily there were plenty of other things on the table for me to try for the first time.

Gradually my chopstick skills came back to me and soon the majority of our plates were empty. I have no idea exactly what I ate today. I don’t tend to ask what the dish was unless it is something I would prefer to avoid in the future. I tend to find out I enjoy my meal more if I don’t have a preconception of the ingredients provided others are eating it with gusto as well. Included in the order had been food I’d never tried before, much of which was absolutely delicious. I may have been here before, and some of the novelty has worn off, but today I was able to try something new while being surrounded with good company. That is always an experience worth repeating, no matter how familiar the location.

Fortune Cookie Message
I have yet to receive a fortune cookie after a meal in Asia, but the message is still worth noting
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Time away from home

by Allie P., posted in Life as I know it
Hong Kong Harbor
A room with a view – Hong Kong Harbor

If I sound a little off, it is for good reason. The day job has sent me to Asia for the week which is twelve hours different from my home time zone and a sixteen hour flight. I am thrilled to still be sitting upright at this point.

My last visit was several years ago, before I had any children. At that time I had been wedged into a seat in economy class, or cattle class as we like to call it. I remain convinced that the bed in my hotel room was actually just a cloth covered sheet of plywood, and communication at home was either a spotty phone call or by instant messenger. I had entertained myself to the best of my ability, but there had been an element of homesickness throughout my entire stay.

Knowing the extent of my previous homesickness prior to having children, I was more than a little hesitant to return after the children were born. But you can only put off necessary journeys for so long.

Thankfully technology has come a long way since my last extended trip to Asia. Tools like Skype and Face Time are helping me do everything but reach out a touch my loved ones. Explaining the time change to my boys was easy. If they are eating breakfast, I am eating dinner. If they are getting ready for bed, I am on my way to work. I told them I was going to opposite land. While they miss me, they think this is a pretty cool, but it is probably a good thing my computer’s camera isn’t set up for high definition. It’s hard to look your best after such a long flight coupled with an extreme case of jet lag. Al Gore said it best, “Airplane travel is nature’s way of making you look like your passport photo.”

I can’t change the fact that I had to travel away from my family for a few days. I miss them terribly. I wish that they were here with me, or that society was further along in development of teleportation technology. But it is pointless to bemoan what I don’t have. Instead I need to make the most of this experience. I have to think about what I do have, and be happy. It’s already shaping up to be better than the last time I was here. No one sat next to me on the plane allowing some extra elbow room, and the hotel I am staying at understands the importance of a softer mattress. Additionally, I now have something I haven’t had in years. Spare time.

Quote by Jimmy Dean on Travel

 

 

 

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Is that a fire hydrant or a really odd garden gnome?

by Allie P., posted in Life as I know it
German garden gnome
German garden gnome (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After staring at my computer screen for hours, I decided to go for a walk at lunch as a way to recharge.  There is a secluded nature park within a short walk that can be reached by passing through the adjacent residential area. It’s not particularly impressive, but it at least gives me a destination to go to when I need some fresh air.

It had been a partially cloudy day which had allowed me to walk at a rather brisk pace without worrying that I would stink up my office upon my return. At least it had been at the beginning of my walk. As I began the final stretch, the clouds parted and the sun beat down upon the payment. We’ve had an unusually wet summer this year and the ground was full of pent up moisture. Within an instant the humidity skyrocketed and I found myself wishing that I had gills.

Luckily trees with low hanging limbs draped the sidewalk ahead and I eagerly darted under their cover. I stood there for a moment to enjoy the last bit of shadow as the rest of my route was in full sun. To my left stood a fire hydrant.

Its paint was faded and it had a layer of mold and bird droppings that helped to blend it into the surrounding landscape. It certainly did not command a high degree of visibility from the street. There have been ceramic garden gnomes which have caught my eye quicker. I found myself wondering how often it was maintained. I wondered what would happen if there was a nearby fire. Would the firefighters even know it was there? I imagined the damage that could be avoided if only someone would do a better job of trimming those trees or applying a new coat of paint to that hydrant.

Most fires don’t put themselves out before they have reduced everything around them to cinders. It doesn’t matter if the fire is a physical one or the more metaphoric variety. However it isn’t enough to provide the tools to combat them, you have to make sure everyone knows they are there, and then remind them over and over again.

At my work, I am the documentation queen. I’ve written several hundred pages of memos, policies, and procedures. I placed these documents on the company network for all employees to share. I believed I had given the entire company a great reference tool. However it seemed that the moment someone encountered some situation they weren’t entirely sure of they would either panic or do nothing.  Senior management would get frustrated. Why are we repeating the same mistakes? Customers would get frustrated. Why were we making their lives so difficult? I grew frustrated. What was the point of all those hours spent refining those policies or putting them to paper if no one was going to read them?

Book promoters will tell you often that you can write the greatest story ever, but no one will read it if they don’t know it exists. This saying is true for so many things beyond the publishing world. It wasn’t that my co-workers were lazy. They just hadn’t needed to use the reference guide in a long time. They hadn’t been involved in its creation and had no reason to remember the contents of every single page.  I’ve since learned that the average adult has to hear something more than six times before it embeds itself into active memory. Six times! I couldn’t fault my colleagues for not retaining information I had only mentioned once or twice. My co-workers simply didn’t know what they didn’t know.

So now unless I want to have the written equivalent of a garden gnome I must trim back those trees, apply a new coat of paint, and repeat, repeat, repeat, or in marketing terms, promote, promote, promote.

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Amazon’s call to action

by Allie P., posted in Indie book promotion, Life as I know it

Embed from Getty Images

I receive quite a bit of email on any given day, half of which are various email newsletters I don’t particularly recall signing up for. I delete the majority of these without doing more than scanning the headlines. One of these is from Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing group and usually details how such and such author is now making so much money, not only are they making enough writing to replace their full-time job, their significant other is also leading a life of luxury.

I was surprised then to find that this week’s message was instead a call to action against publisher Hachette as part of their ongoing dispute regarding e-book pricing.

To summarize, Hachette wants to get a return on their investment by controlling the price of the books they publish, they believe their books are worth more because they are of higher quality than say, a book published without their help. They argue that unlike retailers, publishers invest heavily in individual books, often for years, before seeing any revenue. This investment includes: invest in advances against royalties, editing, design, production, marketing, warehousing, shipping, piracy protection, and more. All of this additional overhead is critical to their business and should be valued accordingly. You can see their full response here.

Amazon believes they would be able to sell more of Hachette’s books if only Hachette would agree to make less money on the books they (Amazon) sells. Amazon listed out several of their arguments in their email, two of which are:

  • “With an e-book, there’s no printing, no over-printing, no need to forecast, no returns, no lost sales due to out of stock, no warehousing costs, no transportation costs, and there is no secondary market – e-books cannot be resold as used books. E-books can and should be less expensive”
  • “They think books only compete against books. But in reality, books compete against mobile games, television, movies, Facebook, blogs, free news sites and more.”

If Hachette compromises, unless they accept a lower return on their investment (a sure shareholder crowd pleaser), they will be forced to reduce staff or otherwise cut overhead, lowering either their selection or their quality standards.

If Amazon compromises, then this same fight will play out with all the other large publishers. Prices will stay where they are currently, or could even rise, making books less accessible to readers on a budget.

Which brings me back to the email. At the end, there is a call to action begging authors such as myself to write to Hachette’s CEO and carbon copy Amazon. The email even provided his email address and talking points. You can read the full letter at www.readersunited.com.

Amazon has been great to me. Without them I would not have sold half the books I’ve sold to date, and I love that they have a platform allowing a person such as myself the ability to compete with major players in the industry. I also wouldn’t have been able to do the majority of my shopping without them. As with any retailer, I believe they have the right to refuse to promote or sell goods which do not conform to their corporate strategy/image. However, and please don’t block me Amazon for saying this, I won’t be writing Hachette. Hachette has the right to charge what they believe is fair market price. If they believe that their e-books are worth $14+ then so be it. As a reader, I don’t buy their argument that there aren’t other cheaper alternatives which are just as worthwhile to read, but other readers might view this differently. As a writer, their pricing practices actually make my book easier to sell. I am not going to complain about a competitive advantage that comes my way.

This whole incident is like fighting parents bringing their children into an argument. It’s not in anyone’s benefit and should be avoided at all costs. It’s going to get ugly, things are going to get said that can never be unsaid, and no matter who wins the child is stuck with expensive therapy bills later.

Authors who have signed with Hachette’s companies might be suffering. If I was one of them, I might be upset that there were negotiations out of my control affecting my livelihood. However I am not one of them. I’d love to have their worst day’s sales. Nor am I an Amazon exclusive author. Amazon and Hachette, thank you both for enlightening me on your relative positions, but I hope you can settle this without my further involvement. Until then, I think I will continuing to support indie publishers and authors whenever possible.

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