I'll be reading Growing Up with Tamales for story time at Blue Willow Bookshop, in Houston, on Thursday morning, May 15. Tell everyone you know with kids in the Houston area. How do you find and support local indie book stores like Blue Willow? By going to Booksense.
On Saturday, May 17, I'll be in Dallas, reading and signing at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, for the 13th Dallas Children’s Book Fair & Literary Festival.
On June 22, here in Houston, I'm going to do a poetry workshop. It's free and open to the public, y'all, and they're having one every Sunday in June, taught by local poets I love and respect. So come on down.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Sighz lol!!!1!!Remember how I told y'all, a while back, a few thousand times, that I had a novel coming out in Spring of 2008? Well, I just found out that it's been pushed back for a second time, to January 2009.
What does this mean to you? It means that, by the time Houston, We Have a Problema is actually available for sale, you'll feel like you already read it two years before.
However, it does not mean that I won't be there, January 2009, nagging you to buy it. In the mean time, I just have to update all the tiny places on my blog that now mention the wrong date... Here I go... Doo de doo...
In other book news: I'm pretty sure my first kids' book, Growing Up with Tamales, is still coming out in May 2008. I mean, I hope it is. It's at the printer now, they tell me.
There. Now you have renewed reason to be envious of my life, which is the glamorous life of a published author.
Special Linkelodeon Single-Link Feature
My new favorite site is LOLSecretz. It's a cross between Post Secret (which I have always suspected is mostly faked) and LOL Cats.
Sample:
I UZED 2 B SO INTO U.
I like the way the best submissions parody the Post Secret style -- the single shocking sentence, or the one-sentence layout and second-sentence twist. It's like LOL Cats, but nine thousand times more nuanced and hilarious.
Yes, it's a sickness, I know. Yes, I fear the day that someone catches my boyfriend and I speaking LOLSpeak to each other. We don't even do it ironically anymore.
Me: We R going 2 lunchez now?
Tad: Yes, I can haz rice 4 us.
Stranger passerby: What the hell is wrong with you two? Are you not grown adults? Why are you talking like that?
Me and Tad: O noes!!!!!1!!!1!!
Never do your job well.
If you do your job well (quickly, correctly, efficiently, with minimum complaining), then you will be rewarded with extra work. People will start stacking crap on your desk with little Post-Its that say, at first, "Rhonda: Can you please process this cog today so I don't have to do the extra widget report on it? Thanks!! :)"
Then, they'll stack stuff on your desk with Post-Its that say "Rhonda: Need today please thx."
Then, they'll stack stuff on your chair with Post-Its that say, "TODAY."
No one will ever say, "Man, Rhonda sure processes those cogs quickly. Remember, before she came here, how we used to have cogs stacked up all over the place, waiting to be processed, necessitating extra widget reports and late fees? I'm glad Rhonda works with us. She's awesome."
But people will say, "Man, Rhonda sure has been acting bitchy lately. What's up her butt? Oh, hey, are you going by her desk? Can you put these cogs on her chair? They're not due 'til next month, but she may as well get them to me before I go on vacation."
So don't do your job well. Do just enough to get by, and surf the Web all day, like everyone else. You'll be happier.
Labels: links, pop culture, work
6:37 AM #Comments:
Oh sweet God, you are so right about the work thing. It does not pay to be a good productive worker.(Which might be why I'm blogging now. I can't say.)
# posted by
That Chick Over There : 11:53 AM
Totally. No truer thing has ever been said about the desk job than this:
"...when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled; that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired."
# posted by
Amblus : 9:59 AM
This is exactly why I have boxes and boxes of cogs sitting in my office waiting for me......
But they are on the back burner because I'm behind on the widget reports that I now take care of since I caught them up last time.....
Earlier today I mentioned that there were quite a few Thingamajigs laying around needing alterations.... it was suggested that I make it happen since my attention to detail caught the problem.... and certainly I must take over the duties of the follow-ups filing and quarterly fielding since they are cross related tasks.
About once a week I get to do what I was hired for..... but I hve to hurry because we need this RIGHT NOW!!!!!
# posted by
: 6:13 PM
Yes, JLW sister, that's right on the money. The only ones who survive are the ones who can deflect the work.
# posted by
: 6:45 PM
Your observation about the workplace is why I freelance. In office environments I quickly got the reputation of Person Who Gets Shit DONE. It's my own fault and weakness; I feel really guilty if I don't meet all deadlines given to me, no matter how unreasonable. People love to take advantage of this. Now, at least, when I do a lot of work I can charge accordingly.
# posted by
: 10:41 AM
(G, the little box to the right still says the book will be out in 2008. Which I only mention 'cause you were looking to update the references.)
Jenn
# posted by
: 2:02 PM
That Chick: Exactly. Not that I'd EVER blog at work... But yeah.
Amblus: Yes! That movie was a minor god. Wait -- you're quoting Office Space, right?
Mike in Ohio: Exactamente. Too bad you're in Ohio, or you and me and the other worker bees here could form our own cog firm and take over the cog world.
Lived it: :)
Wipeout: Yeah, I've heard that's the best way to do it. One of my friends did the same thing and makes 3000 times more than me now. I have to cling to the benefits, though.
Plus, sigh.. I fear that it gets to be a habit, lowering one's work-ethic standards.
Jenn: Thank you. Sighz. I haven't fixed it yet. I have this HTML configured in such a way that I have to fix that sidebar on each page, separately, then FTP each page. Then I think I have to do it in the body of the About Gwen page, too. But the sidebar is the pain. I R LayZ.
Really, it's about time for me to redesign this whole freaking site. But when that will actually happen, I don't know.
# posted by
Gwen : 7:11 PM
"So don't do your job well. Do just enough to get by, and surf the Web all day, like everyone else. You'll be happier."
one more time, it's like i think the words, then i go to your blog and (tada!) there they are. our employers are lucky to have us.
and they better know it.
# posted by
blake : 9:52 AM
Sigh..Oh how I have missed reading your blog Gwen...I can so relate to the passive agressive bitchy thing and the office 12'th level of hell that is reserved for those of us who actually do the job that we were hired for...I have a patent pending raised eyebrow over eyeglasses frame glare that I am happy to share with you . It conveys the heart felt STFU without saying a word..I'm glad that you and hisself had a nice turkey day..yeah for the hair and weight..cause it's what you want..
Still toiling in 2 A
# posted by
Aunty Pol : 11:46 AM
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