I just returned a batch, which were packed too heavy: Jane isn’t supposed to be lifting things, I can’t carry them the route to the post office, and we were greatly distraught and exhausted by the time we got them there and got them delivered to the counter.
No more boxes at all for the remainder of this year. I will happily sign bookplates @ 2$ each for shipping and handling, but not 30 lb boxes of books, please.
And after this I am firmly insisting that no box be more than 10 lbs.
I confess to a “duh!” moment. Many times you have talked about struggling with heavy or unhandy loads, tripping with same, etc. May one respectfully suggest that you really need a handtruck? They make convertible ones that double as flat-beds or dollies as well. Wouldn’t it be nice to move the bridge beams on a dolly rather than schlepping them the whole distance? This is not an optional luxury; especially since Jane is hors de combat.
Our place is a maze of little steps, gravel paths, right angle turns, and short porches. We have dollies, but they’re often more of a struggle than just carrying it. But thanks for the thought.
Makes perfect sense. Thirty pounds is a lot some days. And it’s not a lot of books really.
Bookplates are a lot lighter 🙂
Your generosity has always amazed me. I think a ten lb. limit is entirely reasonable. Just out of curiosity when do you find the *time* to do all the signing?
We neglect the housework. Right now it’s way neglected. But we got the boxes out. Instead, I fear, of getting the bridge put together.
Forgive me if I have a meltdown. The postman just delivered a 40 lb box of books to be signed. I can’t do it. I just cleared our living room of 6 mailings, and here’s another, monster-sized, and I just can’t cope with it right now. We’ve been stove in all day after the morning battle to get our living room clear, and here we are again.
As Bren would say, “God….” Of course you can’t lug all those heavy boxes around. It’s been awfully good of you to have done it for so long. I wish I could help you. Is there someone you know who could come over and give a hand temorarily, with this box at least, until you can get these heavy boxes stopped? You are absolutely right to put a stop to this.
You know, there were many times when I looked at the shelves and thought about boxing up all those hardbounds that are not yet signed and shipping them off to you. I think something like sanity stepped in right at the proper time and stopped me.
I’ll go for the bookplates as soon as I can.
(You don’t want to hear about my latest round of problems. Sigh)
Bookplates are quite fine, wonderful, in fact.
A thirty pound box of books one day, and a forty pound box the very afternoon? That’s…way too many books in one box, and was surely a load for the sender…who should not have inconvenienced an author whom he or she respects…geez.
When you have the wherewithal to get to it, I’d suggest mailing them back in boxes of ten pounds or so. It’s only reasonable for your sake.
You did right to not accept anymore boxes. What an imposition inconsiderate people make! I vote for the bookplates only rule if the books are not hand delivered and only 5 at a time at that.
Well, the problem is—thinking back before this mess started, it’s not this person’s doing. I dimly think I did say ok to this one, and I can’t blame the sender: it’s just incredible timing. I can’t blame people for wanting to save money and ship in the fewest number of boxes, either; and if I break this up into smaller boxes, well, I might, if it comes to that, but I’ll have to get into it and see how the postage works. We neither one of us are in shape right now to cope with big boxes, due to Jane’s situation, and we are just at our rope’s end, which is no fault of the sender if I said ‘send’. It was a while ago, and probably took the sender a while to get organized, and it just worked out this way. We’ll get this box out—we can pull the car around and get it out. And that should be it for a while, because I’m going to have to say a firm no until next year.
I have one signed copy of a book that you signed when I was up to Shejicon I, and one that OSG sent me for my birthday. I treasure those two books. More would take away from their “uniqueness”.
That many signed books is an extravagance; I can live without it.
Sending my sympathies! I can’t imagine having more than one signed book by any author; it’s incredible that you would accept any boxes of books whatsoever. And certainly right now you’re entirely right to just need to not deal with extra stress 🙁
Many positive thoughts going your way, and Jane’s. *hugs*
*is indignant that anyone would ask*
how many books is that???
IT varies wildly. And people write in from the website who don’t come here and find out what’s going on, and so do people who have my addy from way back, so I’m sure the sender has no idea what a deep mess we’re in.
This brings back memories of when I was in college and learned that my (then) favorite author, Anne McCaffrey was in town that day. I dropped everything, raced over to the bookstore where the signing was held, and bought 9 of my favorite books there on the spot–I just couldn’t choose and I hadn’t brought my own copies to college with me! (What I spent that day was a lot more than I could reasonably afford at the time.)
In my mind’s eye, I can still see the glares from the other people in the line and the irritated expression on the author’s face as I presented my stack to her to be signed. Looking back, I cringe at my own insensitivity. In my defense, I was young, and passionately enthusiastic!
Lol—My usual solution is to say (in a megaline) that I’ll sign 3 at a go. This lets the people with a light load cycle through, and the ones with huge bags and boxes go back to the back and cycle through again. When it gets down to 3-4 people with a box remaining, I just invite them all to stand at ease and wait, and I’ll converse and sign box at a time, if I can coordinate people to find the right page and shove the book under my hand. It usually ends up with happy people and a pretty sane way to do things. Nobody objects to a guy willing to cycle through the line 4-5 times: he’s paying his dues. 😉
That sounds like a wonderful way to handle situations like that. I would have been delighted to have a chance to actually talk with the author I had taken a great deal fo trouble to come and see.
Unfortunately, that first experience was sufficiently traumatic for me that I avoided all opportunities to meet authors I enjoyed for at least a decade afterwards for fear that my encounter with them would fall short of the ideal of them I had created in my mind. I think I’ve finally outgrown that dread–in no small part due to your kind responses to my posts and emails. =)
Almost all of my signed Cherryh books represent a personal meeting, and I treasure them for that as well as for being signed. I remember in particular an ice storm edging in at a convention and you signing books in our room and telling Russ and me a story about riding through the woods with the trees covered in ice.
And, by the way, when we heard yesterday about flooding in the area, Russ and I had a long phone conversation about what I would need to move if it gets this far. One of the first things he said was ‘get the Cherryh books up to the attic’ where they would be as safe as we could make them.
(Russ and I are separated by the economy. The only job he could get three and half years ago was in New York. I am in Nebraska. He only gets home for a few days every three to six months.)
If you and those books got separated by flood, Zette, I would most definitely re-sign them. You take care of yourself!