Please Mr. Postman

“You cannot satisfy hunger by drawing a cake.” -Chinese proverb

“You cannot satisfy the desire to hold a book in your hands by dreaming about it.” -Jennifer Chow

“Please Mr. Postman”:

I don’t know how many times I’ve sung that song by The Marvelettes, yearning for the mail truck to bring results from my latest writing submission. Recently, the lyrics played in my head again while waiting for my big box of author copies of my debut novel. In fact, I had friends who ordered from Amazon.com and received their book already!

I double-checked with my publisher on the shipping status to make sure the books were actually on their way. That’s when I found out they were coming via UPS (is there a good UPS song out there?). I hunted down the tracking number to monitor its delivery and was relieved that the box would come by the “end of day” this past Friday.

The hour came… and passed. There was no bell ring or knock on the door. Sad, I got ready for bed, to sleep away my sorrow. Then I decided to check online one more time. Apparently, the shipment had arrived! Yes, the giant box of books had been waiting for me for three hours, disconsolate, on my front porch.

It was amazing to feel the book in my hands. My writing was now real, something I could flip through with my fingertips. And there’s something incomparable to seeing your name on the cover.

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That was not my only encounter with mail this weekend. After getting my copies, I needed to send out books to reviewers. Thank goodness for the automated mail kiosk, where things can be done with a touch of the button. I did seem to spend a lot of money to send out the books, though. It was only later that I discovered something called media mail–yes, there’s a special shipping option, which used to be known as “book rate,” to send out written materials. Oops. Oh well, at least I’m supporting the postal service. In turn, I hope they’ll bring me good news through the mail in the future.

 

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