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Showing posts with the label frustration

Something Stinks

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  Last week, Amazon decided that I'm not the author of one of my books. My first reaction was to make a joke about it on Facebook. Then I sent Amazon a happy little note assuring them that Maggie Pill and Peg Herring are one and the same person. I got the identical email a second time. In the meantime, my FB friends made suggestions, some facetious, some not. A lawyer friend said to get a DBA (Doing Business As) for Maggie Pill and send them a copy. That would be a great idea if I weren't in Florida. I called the county clerk for my home in Michigan, and they won't accept an application that isn't signed by a Michigan notary public.  Another author said she'd had the same problem. She'd sent Amazon an email from her pen name's email address, saying that she had the right to make changes on the book. I did that, also sending a copy of said email in reply to theirs, so they had one from "Maggie"  and a copy of it from Peg. No dice. This time, I di

Wading into a Bureaucracy

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My mother-in-law received two new I.D. cards (with different numbers) from BC/BS, which I figured was something that needs investigation. I'd also received a form to fill out that made no sense to me. And in addition, about a month ago her mail from them had started going to the nursing home rather than to me. Bright and early this morning I thought, "I'll kill three birds with one stone." Ha. Ha Ha. Step 1: Go to the website. It has my address for mailings. Hmm. Step 2: Call BC/BS Got a very nice lady who said she has my address for mailings. After some back and forth, she told me I needed to call Blue Care Network, which isn't the same as BC/BS. Step 3: Call BC Network. Got another nice lady who was able to correct the mailing problem but had no idea why MiL got two ID cards (plus the new one BC/BS had sent). She said I had to talk to Blue Care Advantage. Step 4: Call BC Advantage. Got a woman who re-checked the address for mailings, so we're pretty

I'm an IT Person--with D-I-O in the Middle

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Today's writer is supposed to know computer stuff. If I run an ad, they'll ask for photos with so many DPIs. It's expected that I will know how to convert the ones I have into the size they want. When I send a manuscript to someone, it has to be in a certain format: PDF for some, .mobi for others, etc. Again, it's expected I'll know how to provide those files. My websites/blogs have domains, at least in theory. I have no idea how to control them or even who's in charge of them. So while I'm a writer, toiling away to create stories people will want to read, I had to learn the basics of computer use beyond word processing, and now I have to keep up with new developments as things change. IT I'm not. Things go wrong, and when they do, I'm likely to be helpless to correct them. What would be great is to have a person who'll show up at my house at a moment's notice and solve the problem I'm having right then. I don't want to haul my co