Out of Frustrating Sometimes Comes Some Good

My scheduler at work has been annoying me rather significantly lately. You see, I am supposed to be a server/busser in our restaurant. Lately though, I have been scheduled to cashier. The problem should be clear to anyone in the restaurant business, but if you aren't I will explain:

Servers make mullah tips.
Bussers make so-so tips.
Cashiers make next to no tips.

The reason I left my former job for a job that pays a full dollar an hour less was that I would be making tips. In the first couple of months at my job I was making about $700/month in tips, and only $750 in actual paychecks.

So, instead of only making $8/hr, I was in fact making about $18/hr...nearly unheard of in this county.

Now, cashiering, I am making much, much less. Barely enough to survive on. Actually, I am not making enough to survive on. I have made my issues known, and have been assured that it will only be for about another week, but still I am very tight on cash.

The good that has come out of this very frustrating bad is this: Cashiering is so damn boring and slow that I have been able to roughly outline the entire first half of Shadows On The Wall this week. HUZZAH!

Unfortunately, I have come across a new problem: a plothole.(Like a pothole in the road, only it's in the storyline).

A plothole right smack dab in the middle of the book. The rough draft that I wrote approx. 6 years ago has this huge hole, like a time vortex that one of the characters just slipped into and disappeared while the others carried on as if nothing had happened. I mean, they should feel really awful for letting that happen...terrible human  beings.

I think I have come up with a cure for the plothole, but getting the story back on track after that hole may in fact be difficult.

Nonetheless, the fact that I have had so much idle time on my hands at work lately has brought this bugger of a problem to my attention far before it became a really difficult issue.

I suppose I should be a bit on the thankful side that I have had the extra time, but my wallet and bank account are not feeling very magnanimous.

This looking on the bright side post brought to you by: Shanco.corporations.
(Lobbied against by: The wallet and bank account of Shannon A Hiner.)


On a completely unrelated side note: Long time and very successful authors may not be effected so much by their reviews on book selling websites, but I certainly am. I feel that it is necessary to give a hugely thankful shout out to my first reviewer in the iTunes bookstore, a certain Beekersc. I appreciate so much that you took the time to not only read Only The Stars Know but to also leave a few lines telling others how much you enjoyed it.

Only The Stars Know in the iTunes Store
Remember everyone: A book read, but not reviewed, kills a faerie. No joke.

Now Hiring @ Shanco: Snarky Assistant

It has recently been brought to my attention that, as a writer, I should have an Assistant to help organize my projects and obligations as well as buck me up and give advice. After reading an interview of fellow author and witnessing the actions of her own assistant, I know that my assistant cannot be just any random person off the street. I must have a, what I call, Snarky Assistant.

This is not a position easily filled, and I do not expect to do so quickly. Therefore this job posting will be open until filled, without a 'fill-by' date. I will not settle for less than what I want and need. If that means I am my own Snarky Assistant for a time, then I will live (rather unorganized, but I will live.)

If you do not feel that you can fill the post, but know someone who may, I urge you to inform me.

Thank you for your time and reading,

Shannon A Hiner

Position Key: Snarky Assistant

Job Duties:

• Preview & Critique all written works of S.A. Hiner.
  
• Schedule and execute all necessary appointments, interviews, and promotions.
  
• Make unplanned trips to the café for tea and/or coffee.
  
• Keep the same odd hours as the writer, or not mind being woken at odd hours.
  
• Have a store of original, uplifting speeches of varying degrees ready at will.
  
• Unplanned trips to inspirational sites, such as the river, the dam, the woods, etc.
  
• The ability to quote poetry appropriately and accurately.
  
• You must understand the writer to a degree that is uncanny, knowing what advice is needed, even if the writer does not want to hear it.
  
  

Experience & Education:

• Experience critiquing writing.
  
• A wide interest and knowledge base in random facts.
  
• A tested IQ of 120 or better.
  
• Uncommon sense
  
• Some college preferred, though life-experience is valued more highly.

Necessary Interests:

• Must love reading, especially of the fantasy and light romance genres.
  
• An interest in Astrology is a plus.
  
• Knowledge of plot and character archetypes.
  
  

Attitudal Features:

• Trustworthiness is a key requirement for this position. You are likely to see and hear many things that are neither meant, nor appropriate for public knowledge.
  
• You should be a witty, slightly sarcastic person who is not offended by biting cynicism.
  
• Must be highly intelligent with the sense to apply that intelligence to life in a meaningful way.
  
• Stubbornness, not to an extreme, will help you.
  
• You should be a generally positive person, not prone to depression.
  
• Slobs, personally and physically, need not apply (the writer is a clean-freak).
  

Notes:

• This position may be best filled by a live-in Snarky Assistant, your willingness in this aspect will be weighed for or against you.
  
• This is not a paid position until the writer actually starts getting paid.
  
  

Benefits Include (but may not be limited to):

• Prescreening of all of the writer’s books.
  
• Trips to the movies/bookstore when inspiration is slow.
  
• Homemade cake & cookies (and candy at Christmas!)
  
• Homey-care when you are sick or hurt.
  
• Optional Sunday dinners at the Hiner Compound. (other option being that this is your one guaranteed day off)
  
• One other day off during the week is negotiable.

To Apply: Email shannonahiner@live.com, or Facebook message me. You should include prior experience as well as a response to all of the above statements.