Technically Blue

by Charlotte Hinger

 Oh yeah? 

Just try spending a whole night and the rest of the next morning trying to print the right Amazon label. 

I have a single very old hardcover book that I peddle through Amazon's Vendor Central program. It's Come Spring, the first book I published. It's almost forty years old. I foolishly bought a lot of inventory when Simon & Schuster fired my editor and subsequently did not publish my second book. 

Once in a while, I still get an order. In the past, it's been easy to deliver a copy, but recently Amazon upgraded its website and I have not been able to print a shipping label that has the right bar code for the post office or UPS. 

Unfortunately I have a compulsive personality that won't let a problem go unsolved. While it's a great trait for writing books, it's wretchedly difficult to live with when it comes to technology. If I had a nickel for every computer glitch I've tackled I would be rich. 

It was the culmination of a difficult week trying to master my wonderful new combination serger/cover stitch sewing machine. I was ready to tear my hair out after tackling threading it properly. The new machine has a number of features and is infinitely superior to my old serger. Theoretically. 

When I was a child, I was an avid member of 4-H. Every year I would sign up for too many projects. I well remember the summer I planted way too many strawberries. There was no way to water my patch except by carrying bucket after bucket under a blazing sun. 

Yet this innate stubbornness has paid off when it comes to writing. The biggest make or break trait for success is resilience and the patience to learn how to write. Not only how to write, but to hang in there before becoming published. 

A friend is far more successful than I will ever be said:

"The people who have the talent, don't have the courage and the people who have the courage don't have the talent. But there's no question which one will be published."