My PayPal Debacle

Here I am, sitting at my computer, listening to the incomparable soprano, Marita Solberg in order to refresh my mind and consider my next move. After almost three weeks of trying to join PayPal – I’m still unable to do so.
The debacle started because the publisher of Sabine Dolls only does monitory transaction through PayPal. I had no choice, therefore, but to join - or as I said, try to.
I opened a rudimentary account, only to be told that they'd put a restriction on it because they'd detected some "unusual activity". In order to lift the restriction, they said, we only need a proof of address from you.

I tried to send them a copy of an official letter but discovered they only accept files with certain file extensions on them. Now, being a complete numskull around computers, I had to get the computer "medicine man" in the town to change my chosen proof of address letter to a different file extension. (PayPal, I also discovered when I tried to send one with a query e-mail, doesn't accept attachments of any kind).
After finally sending them a copy of the same letter, this time with the correct file extension, they came back to tell me they now needed one of my bank statements, so I had to wait until my bank did one for me. Bulgarian banks, you see, don’t bother putting addresses on their statements.

In between all this toing and froing, I got several stock e-mails from PayPal, all from different people, saying that I only had to send my proof of address and then they would unlock my account. Unlock my account? It had never even been opened. But I couldn't be bothered to tell them that because, apart from running around getting bits of paper for them, I still have my third novel to complete – an activity which to me is much more interesting.
A few days after sending the required bank statement, I checked my account again, to find a new requisite which was proof of identity. After a bout of consequent unrepeatable language, it occurred to me that PayPal must have suspected by then that I was a member of the Bulgarian Mafia, which made me laugh - a lot!
All this brings me up to this morning, when I tried to upload a copy of my passport, (only the page with the picture) which PayPal promptly rejected because the "File was too long, please reduce it." (They said somewhere else, "please make sure the picture is large enough to see", but no matter) How the hell am I going to bloody-well reduce a simple passport picture with my computer skills, I thought? Ah well, I'll use my Drivers Licence instead, so off I go to get it. When I pulled that out, I saw with a sinking feeling, something I'd forgotten: it has my last address on it, which was in the UK. Bulgaria accepts UK passports but -"Oh my Gad", I thought, if I send PayPal that, in their arid way, they'd think: a woman living in Bulgaria, taking ages to produce a bank statement with an address, and then sending us a driving license with a different address to her Bulgarian one - she really must be a Mafia member!
What to do now - get frustrated and then try again? I think not. I've just written to my publisher to say that PayPal can - well - do the other thing, and we’d have to find other ways of me getting money to him, and he getting royalties to me.
What I wanted to say here is that organaisations like PayPal: beauracratic, emotionless that they are, purport to perform a service, but are only too ready to present obstacles, when a hapless, potential customer, isn't fitting into one of their boxes. They should know this: they aren’t doing the public a service, the public are doing them one by paying them to transact for them. If they cared about causing annoyance to people, which they say they do, (while coining in their commission, of course), they’d accept simple e-mail attachments, like most mere-mortal organisations. If they are worried about viruses, then I say there are enough good anti-viruses around now to zap anything untoward that some, deranged person, might want to send them in an-mail.
Hey-ho, so I've got to find another way of getting copies of my book from my publisher now. But I'd rather suffer the vexation of that and still hang on to my sanity.

So, I'm going to put on another of Marita's arias and write another passage or two, while I think of what to do next. PayPal? PayPurgatory fits better, I think.

What Kind of People Are They?

When the Lockerbie bomber: al-Megrahi was sent home to die of prostate cancer a few months back, I was incensed to say the least. At the time, I thought that the decision-makers might as well have slapped the families of the victims in the face. I also remember silently remonstrating with Alex Salmond, the Scottish Prime Minister and the then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for letting their feelings of magnanimity and mercy overcome their feelings of outrage for what this man had done.

Al-Megrahi's cancer was terminal, we were told and he wasn't expected to live more than a few weeks. Yet, months later, he is blissfully happy living in his home land, receiving heroe status, after receiving a heroe's welcome.

According to popular opinion, the decision to release the man wasn't out of mercy, so much as greed. It's being whispered in some very prominent places that this odious man was exhanged for an oil deal with Lybia. It occured to me at the time that dirty tricks might have been involved here, but I didn't want to think that politicians on my side of the Atlantic could be so insensitive as to put oil before people's grief. But, in the face of many heart-driven denials by Salmond and the Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, many people believe that this is exactly what has happened.

If it is true, then my view of the men and women of Westminster and Holyrood has plumetted from viewing them as weaklings, with an iffy sense of integrity, to lying, cheating, self-centred miscreants.

I don't blame President Obama for being angry and, as a British woman, I can only speak of my shame that my fellow countrymen have sunk to such a low-level of crassness.

Well - There's a Thing!

I've just come back off holiday to find that "Sabine Dolls" has risen to number 15 on the Bookstrand bestsellers list. I'm totally amazed and delighted that it appears to be doing reasonably well like this, especially as I'm an unknown author. Adding to my surprise is that Coffee Time Romance has agreed to review it, as has Dear Author. Of course, I'm aware that this could be a bitter-sweet coup for me, if the reviews aren't good. Still, I'm happy to have got this far.

I've also had my second novel, "Parallel Triangle" accepted for publication by Penumbra Publishing. I'm working on the cover art and last minute edits at the moment. The reason I'm going with Penumbra as opposed to Bluewood Publishing, who have Sabine Dolls, is that I wanted an American publisher for this novel.

Now for a different topic. I've just got back from a holiday on the Bulgarian coast. It was pleasant to have had a change of scene, but oh how we missed home and especially our dogs! Anyway, what I wanted to record down here was how shocked I was at the lack of modesty on the beach. Now, I have very little time for fuddy-duddies. All the same, while watching hoards of young women walking around in thongs, some of whom were topless as well, I felt saddened that they all seemed so willing to compromise their mystery in this way.

As a writer of romance, I have to be able to get into the psyche of the male many times. (I've also been around a long time on this planet and have spoken to many men, which has helped.) Suffice it to say that although we women have evolved a long way since emancipation, men have largely remained Neaderthal in the way they view women. Oh I know they might say that they're modern, but most of them would rather a woman covered up in public, thereby leaving their imaginations to run riot.

As a species, men are conservative on the subject of what women should or shouldn't show. They might sit and ogle a beautiful woman with everything on display, of course, but most of them don't really want the women in their life to do the same. Also, young males, deep down in their hearts, would rather not choose a girl whose body has been viewed by the world either.

I'm well aware that this makes me sound old-fashioned but, this is my blog and I don't care - so there!

Sandy

Sabine Dolls Is Out At Last.

At last Sabine Dolls has been released, but only in e-book format. Bluewood Publishing told me that it will be going to print, but not until they get some more money. Apparently, sales were bad last month. While feeling disappointed at the book isn't going straight into print, I do understand that there's a world financial crisis on and most people are cutting back on spending.

I await next month's sales with some concern. And of course, I hope that Bluewood doesn't go the same way as some other E-publishers, who tried, but couldn't quite make a go of things.

I'm now in the throes of trying to get exposure to the novel. I've sent it to Dear Author and Bluewood should be sending it to Smashwords and Coffee Time Romance. I hope that will be enough.

On a flippant note, "Lost" is coming to the end of the final season. I've been telling all my friends that I don't know what I'll do without it. I don't watch that much TV, but it has been a treat to be able to see somehing so imaginitive and well-acted.

Spring

I hate the winter so don't expect too much from me around that time. Now, though, it's warm, heady and full of buds and crocuses. Lovely.

So, what have I been doing? I've finished the final edits of Sabine Dolls at last and that should go out as an e-book soon. I've also completed my second novel: Parallel Triangle. I've been trying to get an agent for it, to no avail. I've learned not to expect too much in that area though, since getting an agent is, as far as I'm concerned even harder than getting a publisher. Anyway, there are quite a few new online UK publishers springing up, and most of them don't require you to be agented.

No matter how I try, I can't seem to get away from newspapers or the radio talking about the banking crisis. Seeing the bankers still taking their massive bonuses takes my breath away. How do they sleep at night. Quite easily is the answer to that, since they don't have a shred or altruism in them. What a disgrace when, all around us, people are having their homes re-possessed and these corporate bankers are creaming off all the wealth of the country.

I don't like Capitalism now. But then - what are the alternatives. If we were to install another "ism" into our daily lives, I daresay within a year, it would resemble the same structure. That is, one to two percent of the population with all the money and the rest scratching about to live decently.

So let's try and end on a positive note. Ah yes, I've got some good friends coming round for dinner this evening. That thought will keep me going for a while.

Gloom

I watched the much spoken about documentary "Collapse" last night, in which Michael Ruppert speaks of the decline of civilisation (If indeed we can correctly term it as such). The reason, according to Ruppert, is because we're all so dependent upon oil which, unless you've been asleep for the past thirty years, will know is fast running out.

I'm not one for gloom and doom prophesies as a rule. However, this man spoke from the heart, even crying at one point, about how he's been forced out on to the periphery simply because he had the courage to air his prophesies, which now seem to be coming true. What's the most alarming, for me, is that he's exposed how governments in the USA and the developed West have pushed the problems of dwindling Earth resources and the dangerous, unsustainable population explosion under the carpet. They simply aren't making provision for the masses, when the crunch comes. And dammit, they should be because a lot of people are going to die as a result!

I'm stocking up on candles, seeds and self-sufficiency books. Thank goodness I'm a veggie, that methinks, will make things a little easier, since keeping hens is relatively less complex than rearing meat. Oh, and I'm going to learn how to drive a pony and carriage! Happy New Year.

Sandy Hyatt-James

Impatient But Happy

I love this time of the year; especially living in Bulgaria where a white Christmas is usually a given. And I like the fact that Bulgaria, although a Christian country, doesn't do commercialism like Western Europe or America. Some of this could be that people just don't have any money here. Paying out large sums in advertising, to try and trawl in vast revenue for goods, therefore, is a waste of money.

On the subject of money, I read that the Bankers of RBS have quit because the Chancellor of the Exchequer has scuppered their chance of paying themselves huge bonuses. Well, boo-hoo! Their greed and insensitivity to ordinary people in this era of dearth takes my breath away! Let them go I say, and good riddance. Let's hope that those who take their place will be more adept at the job, have more of a social conscience and be prepared to work for more realistic rewards!

About writing: I hoped that "Sabine Dolls would be out by Christmas, but this isn't to be. Hopefully, I can get down to the editing with Bluewood in the New Year and get it out by the end of January. Also, I'm almost at the final edit stage of my new novel: "Parallel Triangle" but I can't really push that until I've got the first book properly out and up for sale. Methinks that 2010 will be interesting!

Sandy Hyatt-James