Networked Knowledge

I’ve been having a bit of the pre-Christmas blues…never fun to be unemployed at this time of year (as much of America is well aware of right now) and struggling to come to terms with the fact that my publisher, when faced with publicizing a book a book that is frankly All About Christmas has taken a very Scarlett O’Hara approach and decided to think about it tomorrow…or rather in February. And combined with the fact that the weather has been frightful…with not a whole lot of delightful to go around and I’m sitting surrounded by unsold books and merchandise for events that got buried under several feet of snow…well…you get the idea. But…somewhere out there Clarence must have done a stint at F&N and had a few left over good deeds to perform because I’ve been hearing a few bells ringing the past few days.

On Saturday Tony and I had no less than 3 parties and an event (the Steampunk Caberet) to attend and we were all dressed up and ready to go. (I was wearing this amazing 100 year old beaver top hat adorned with a poinsettia the size of a cabbage that I had gotten at my buddy Matt’s shop in Montlake – M.R. Johnson’s Antiques.) But the event and one party were cancelled and another was in Shoreline and we decided that we didn’t really have a death wish to make that trip so we went to Montlake to my friend Sally’s house for her annual Christmas soiree. On the way we’d stopped at Bartell’s and happened to meet a soccer mom we knew who wanted a book…and of course I just happened to have some in the car. Because this is what I’ve come to…selling books out of the back of the car like fake Chanel bags in East LA. On to the party which was fabulous and I sold a few more books (although I really think Tony’s comments on Am-way were uncalled for.) Spent some time talking with a very charming Irishman who lived across the street and was a big F&N fan. At one point he said wait right here and ran (ok…plodded through the blizzard) to his house. When he came back he handed me two plates from the Tearoom “made expressly for Frederick & Nelson” and said these are for you. Wow. Later we were exchanging emails and when I saw his name – Peter Mack – I had this flash from 20+ years ago of a cute charming Irishman named Peter who was a world class pianist. Someone had brought him to a party that my 1^st husband and I had thrown and we had gotten to talking about immigration woes. My ex and I had, at that point, just gotten married and gone through considerable money and anguish to get him (an Australian) permission to stay in the country. We recommended our attorney Karen Gilbert, a powerhouse with a heart of gold. And apparently the rest was history. Peter said that recommendation was the reason he was in the U.S. today and his partner thanked me profusely
Yesterday my husband, daughter and I were shopping at the University Book Store and my daughter came running over and said Mom come see this! There was my book (with a very nice write up) in the Staff Picks! Seeing as I didn’t even think you could *find* it in the city I was thrilled. I let the staff know the Author Was In The Store and they set me down with an enormous pile of books to sign and told me it had been “flying off the shelf.” Wait…let me say that again, “flying off the shelf.” Have sweeter words ever fallen on an author’s ear?

Today…after struggling to go through Arcadia to get book signings set up at Costco I had Costco’s book buyer call me back from a message that I had left last week. She’s being great and I feel I couldn’t be in better hands to get something set up. And…she sent me the cutest Santa photo ever! Here’s Pennie Ianniciello on the F&N Santa’s knee – 

Earlier this evening my sister called to check in and wish me a Merry Christmas from the wilds of Bellevue. We chatted a bit and I told her we still hadn’t gotten a tree yet and the odds weren’t looking good. She called me back about an hour later and told me she had arranged to have a Christmas tree delivered to my house tomorrow…from Chubby & Tubby!! I am now surrounded by wonderful F&N memories and will have a tree from Chubby & Tubby – as a Seattle native, I couldn’t ask for anything more.

December 24th, 2008 | Tags: author Ann Wendell, Chubby & Tubby, Costco, Frederick & Nelson, Images of America, Local History, Peter Mack, Seattle History, Steampunk, University Book Store | Category: Christmas Culture, Customer Service, Frederick & Nelson book, Local History, Steampunk | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL