Books - Books - Books!

It's a brand new year (2006), the usual time for resolutions. No exception here, friends. My library overflows, occupying valuable space in my humble abode. (I've always wanted to find a way to say humble abode somewhere.) So we talked it over; and the cat can stay, but the books need to find loving homes. Not all of them, of course! Laws, no! M-O-O-N spells "I'm keeping all the out-of-print John D. MacDonald paperbacks." And the hardcovers, too. And the "just-in-case" duplicates of the older Travis McGee novels. And the Jeffrey Archer short story collections, all three (four?) of them.

The rest can go, however. With-in reason. I'm using Amazon.com's Marketplace system, which is reasonably friendly for small, independent sellers. Plus, with nine years' experience there, it seems a trustworthy place. Now, all I have to do is prove that I am trustworthy, too! (Building a background of Buyer Feedback takes time, like all good things.) I have no intention of competing with the Penny Merchants (high-volume sellers who may or may not be dependable). What I do intend is to provide the best personal service I can offer. I love my books, and want everyone who ends up with one of them to be happy with his or her purchase. That's reasonable, isn't it?

If you have come here from one of my listings, please feel free to stay awhile. This is me, here, on this Blog. Read my Profile, leave me a Comment, or send me an email. Or simply browse my posts for the fun of it. Then go back, and see if I have a book you like. Please! And always, always remember to leave Feedback when you buy at Amazon--from me, or any of the other reputable sellers there. We all rely on your goodwill. Thanks for stopping by! Oh, yeah, just disregard the date shown for this Post: it's simply a method to keep this article at the top of the page! [Jim Bessey, Spencerport NY, 10 Jan 2006]

Where's my mid-winter muse?

Have I had a case of writer's block lately? Given my past propensity for verbosity, one might surely think so! I do love to hear myself go on...and on. I have to admit, however, that the past few weeks have been hectic and somewhat overwhelming. Most nights I hardly feel the urge to express myself; so I do some reading and watch some TV (if I can find anything new on the tube). We have quite a bit of change going on here in our little upstate NY world: new job (of which I've written more than enough on my business blog, linked over there on the right), house-hunting, college-searching, kid-entertaining, and so on. It's tax time, too, which comes with its own set of stressors. Most change is, after all, stressful--even if it's good change, or leading to a better life for us in the future. For myself, at least, I find it hard to write when I'm feeling stressed. Some people tell me it's just the opposite for them: writing (esp'y blogging) helps them reduce stress. Unfortunately, that formula doesn't work for me.

The result is that I've let my cozy blog-space sit mostly idle lately. Makes me feel a bit like I'm neglecting a friend (of which I'm also guilty lately). The nice thing about words, though, is that they "keep." I'm not a news-hound; this isn't some op-ed current events blog. Mostly, this is a place for me to muse. I've written at length about some of my cherished opinions regarding the world around me. I'm sure I'll have more to say in the future, too. I do enjoy posting to my two weekly "features"--Tuesday Trivia and the Friday Song. I miss doing those, and will get back to them soon. I also enjoy writing about the exploits of my wonderful kids--they like to read about themselves, too!

Perhaps my neglect of this blog is simply a symptom of "winter blahs." The big holidays are passed, and the weather has settled into a typical cold/dreary mid-winter tedium. My internal batteries do seem to pretty flat by March. It' s been sunny lately, though, and spring is now firmly on the horizon. There's hope for me, after all. I'll be back in form soon enough. Why, just look how much I've been able to write today, while saying very little in the process! Enough said, for today anyway.