Nadia Lee :: Romance Writer

I think newsletters are fantastic. I've started one myself, and I'm still giving away A Happily Ever After of Her Own, a paranormal romance novella, to anyone who subscribes to it.

But I've been getting some that are more like spam than true newsletters. Here's how they manage to irritate me, and I don't suppose I'm alone in being annoyed:

1. I've never given explicit permission to be added to the list. Getting my email address from somewhere is not permission for you to spam me. Yes. SPAM. The word may sound harsh, but if you send unsolicited promotional email, it's spam. (And no, somebody sending you a private email once or twice does not constitute permission.)
2. I get a weekly email full of "buy this" or "buy that" that does not offer any value. Once a month is okay...maybe. Every week? No.
3. I cannot unsubscribe. I know some who mass email using the BCC field -- even, God forbid, the CC field. Do not do this. Buy a newsletter service or install a script on your server that manages mass mailing lists. If I haven't given you explicit permission to add me to your list and if you send me email that I cannot unsubscribe from easily, I will report you to your ISP for abuse.

I know it's tempting to get your name out there, but really, a little common sense and courtesy will go a long way. You really don't want people associating your name with spam.

I'm talking about how I deal with my addiction reading needs given that I live overseas and books are harder to come by (and more expensive to boot!). Please go to Book Lovers Inc and join me.

Commenters will be entered into a drawing to win a copy of Devil Falls written under my contemporary romance pseudonym Angelle Trieste.

Finally I got some shots from the actual ceremony. Here are a few:

That's Mom lowering the veil. Her dress is called han-bok.

(a bigger version for those of you who want to see my dress more closely )

Hero Material's BFF took the close-up picture of the back of my dress:

That's me and Hero Material during the actual ceremony. You can see the attendant in the background, who took care of my ridiculously long train.

That's me signing the certificate:

That's an example of fancy envelopes people use to put wedding money inside. You get cash (crisp new bills only!) instead of gifts in Japan.

• Finished Ashwyn. It needs to sit and percolate a little more before I look at it for rewrites.
• Started outlining My Big Novel Project #1 (MBNP1).
• Wrote an online florist to file a complaint over a gift I ordered for my parents. The flowers were unsatisfactory. The florist offered to resend and refund my money, in addition to giving me a $20 credit. We'll see how the replacement looks. (Thank God, they were sent to Mom, who isn't shy about complaining. I'm just glad they weren't sent to professional colleagues or something...)
• Went to a local glasses shop to get my lenses recut. (Must go pick those up on Saturday...)
• Started watching Rome Season 2.
• Uploaded more pictures to my wedding photo gallery.
• Got my hair cut -- about 3.5 inches gone.
• Did a rehab session.
• Went to the gym.

It's only Thursday now, so I have one more day or two of writing time. Saturday and Sunday are going to be tough tough tough because I have to work all weekend, plus have dinner with Hero Material and some friends who couldn't make it to our wedding.

Kimi-chan is a super nice friend of mine in Hiroshima, and out of the blue -- meaning completely unexpectedly -- she sent me and Hero Material a big box of oysters from her father's award-winning farm in Ootake-Shi, Hiroshima Prefecture (Mukai Suisan). The box contained one big bag of shelled oysters and ten oysters in shells.

Look at the picture below for the quality of the delish oysters! (Note the size and color. They're exceptionally juicy and flavorful. FYI -- I'm the one holding the oyster, and my hand isn't small by any means. [wedding band size ~6])

Once you try them from her father's farm, you never want to eat other oysters. Arigatou, Kimi-chan! :wub:

If you're in Japan and want to order oysters from her father's farm, you can call (0827) 53-7121. (Japanese only; sorry they don't speak English...!)