Snow, Amazon, and other musings on the new year.

Three weeks into the new year and two big snow storms in New York where I live. A lot of fun to watch the snow come down - as long as I'm not driving or needing to shovel it!

Of course, my big indoor/outdoor cat hates the snow - it chases away all the other animals, it make moving around hard, and it is cold. He is much more sensitive to the cold now that he's 15.

I did spend my time productively trying to upload old paperbacks for sale on Amazon. It appears that Amazon, mighty Amazon, has trouble determining what is a trade paperback and what is a mass market for old books, precisely because they make their listing that of whoever uploads the product first. Surprisingly (sarcasm), when it gets to technical details, non-technical people sometimes make mistakes. With so many books in print, it IS impossible for Amazon to independently vet every book uploaded.

So about 50% of the harlequin romances came back as errors (Amazon listing is trade paperback) and 50% succeeded on the first try (Amazon listing is mass market paperback). The process to get the listings corrected seems convoluted but I think I understand their logic. We'll see if I adjust my upload to match the (wrong) information or if I go through the vetting process to get their listing updated.

I see a lot of other bloggers have set lofty reading goals for the new year. I wish them all the best of luck with all their goals. I, personally, just hope to find at least half an hour every day to read and at least an hour to write. 2013 saw those at probably 15 and 30 minutes respectively. Wish me luck!

Homage

2013 is now only a "book" of memories. As is popular this time of year, I will pause a moment to remember some things that were lost in 2013. Then read the poem at the end to get a different perspective!

The literary world lost four giants - Tom Clancy, who has defined the military thriller; Elmore Leonard, whose novels had both tough characters and some lighthearted whimsy; Chinua Achebe, one of the first African authors to achieve critical and commercial success; and Doris Lessing whose direct, no-nonsense feminism paved the way for many more. On a more personal favorite, Frederik Pohl also passed away in 2013. His science fiction was part of the wave that popularized the genre in the 1940s and 1950s. I loved reading his "fantastic fiction" as a kid.

New Year’s Day

Just another day

Another sunrise; sunset

Given an artificial importance

Arbitrarily the start;

A new unit of time.

Therefore a day of resolutions,

Of promises and implorations,

Optimism, mostly misplaced,

And good intentions.

Probably better off

Making small changes,

Sticking to them,

At any time, on any day

Instead of this one

Whimsical day.