I AM STILL HERE AND STILL STANDING

As you can see I have not been doing my blog it's due diligence, but I am back and going to be blogging at least once a week, hope that you can join me on my new adventures. Since I last blogged I had a really bad bout with my thyroid which I am happy to say, I do not have anymore. All the weight that came with this struggle is melting away. I had gotten up to a whopping 280 lbs. and have lost 69 so far. Another 70 and watch out world. I went home to California august on a book tour and must say that I was a little more than disappointed with the outcome. I sold 30 books the whole week that I was there, 14 at an event that I had organized with 3 other authors at a Compton library. I am happy to say I filled the room to capacity with about 70 people by going on the classmates.com site. The other venue was at the Los Angeles Convention Center. I was really surprised to find that I was one of the key authors in attendance. There were many authors, all trying to sell to one another as there were very few attendee's. I spent 200 hundred dollars on a table, paid $700 on plane tickets for my son and myself... well you can see where I am going with this, all to sell one book. ONE BOOK. My husband words rang in my ears, as he paid $400 dollars for a case of 50 books he had told me, "If this does not work, I am not putting anymore money into your expensive hobby. You are going to have to do something to help bring some money in this house. We have been dealing with this book stuff since 1993 and I can't keep throwing good money after a bad project." I went home and took my spanking in the form of, "I told you so's and decided to get a job. I did that, my daughter was working on a job and had been asking me to apply because she would get a referral for my having successfully finished the season. I not only got the job but when the enrollment season was over for the health insurance related company, they actually kept me for an extra month and I did quite well. When the season was over my supervisor tried to get me on permanent but as his own job was in jeopardy he finally had to give me my end of assignment. I was not bitter because I felt like God had put me in a position to find out if 1. My health would hold up. 2. That I could maintain and be dependable for 3 months. 3. Put me back out in the world, which I had not been in for 5 years due to my thyroid. I never knew when I would be flopping around like a fish out of water, due to the seizures that came along with graves disease. Not to mention that I could not go more than two hours without having to take a nap, could not drive a car or go anywhere without my husband or children along to watch for the signs of me having an episode. 4. And most important, he put me in a call center where I was around 1500 people daily. Talk about a great place to sell my books! I had people coming to my desk everyday purchasing books. (Funny story) One day a girl was at my desk and was purchasing a book and my supervisor walked up and asked, "Can I see that?" The girl handed him the book and he took it and turned it upside down and fanned the pages and shook the book. Of course I asked, "What in the world are you doing?" His response was, "I wanted to see if you were putting crack or something in these books, the way they are selling. These people seem desperate to purchase your books." I told him, "No drugs just the words and the message that the books deliver." I sold 3 cases of print books in as many months. I was home and in my element! I could not wait to get to work everyday to see what I would write. They also started a book club there where during my lunch break we meet in the cafeteria and discuss my books. 5. I was also able to write and work on my craft for about 5 hours a day in between calls and during the disclaimer that I had to play to the enrollees. As you can imagine, I was not disappointed when I got my end of assignment because he said they would be calling me back in March to start a new season. Meanwhile I was researching call center jobs in my area and was pleased to find more than a few with even more employees. If I could get a job at the new block long building that a popular company is building I could clean up. I was making about half of my salary in book sales on the previous job. I was just let go on January 7th, but I knew that I had to jump into action fast. On the way home from the job that last day I noticed a hiring sign on the building which is still under construction, but they are doing classes not from the old job. I went home and with my husbands help applied. I heard back the next day through a phone call that I was going through the next phase of the pre-employment process. The next day (Yesterday), I was sent an email with the assessment test, (common sense questions) and a data entry and typing test. I know I did well. So I am waiting to see what happens next. I also opened my email today and was blasted with an advertisement for a new company called www.BookBaby.com, it is a spin off of C. D. Baby which I know about because I have a lot family including my son who have rap songs that they upload there. I checked my Amazon ebook sales and The Roux in the Gumbo has sold 4 books so far this month. I did an advertisement on Apex for The Kings of Credit, a book about credit laundering, which happens to written by myself and my uncle Willie Bruce Jr. based on his life. www.WilliebruceJr.com I can't wait to see what it does for sales. I am going to update my website since I have not done that since before Obama was elected and I made it red, white and blue. I have four books that I have to work on the final drafts and get an edit, (can't afford to spend a lot on that, so I am researching for someone who can give me a good price, if that is you contact me.)Anyway I am going to dedicate this time off work to finishing, "Street Life to Housewife Part 2, G-Mama The Introduction, and my new book that I just started entitled, "You Are Not The Father!" Please join my blog and if you have anything of interest and would like to be a guest on my blog contact me. I would love to be able to help you in your endeavors. www.kim@kim-robinson.com