The Call Center Survival Guide: This Isn't the Book You're Looking For

Early last year I wrote a little self help book somewhere between Limbo and Starfree Port just to see if I could do it. Well, obviously I could.

It's sat on my shelf for months missing the last chapter (which contains sections entitled; "Quitting Suddenly" and "Getting Fired"), and yesterday I finally dusted it off, edited the entire thing and released it on MobiPocket with a temporary cover.

Now, I realize that there are a few hundred people waiting for the next part of Spinward Fringe, but the unfinished task of completing this dry, over descriptive book has been nagging me like crazy all year.

The result of my labors is a self help book that is really only written to help Call Center employees. More specifically, Call Center employees who expect to run into trouble socially or professionally and need a little advice on how to prevent such problems and need tips on how to deal with them when they happen.

To be honest, if you don't work in a call center, or you do and your career is in good shape, you don't need this book at all. I know, if I had a publisher they'd slap me silly, duct tape my mouth shut and toss me in a closet for saying that, but I'd rather be honest so no one mistakes this for a comedy and buys it for a laugh only to discover it's actually a self help book.

Somehow writing this reminded me of an instructional film made in the 40's or 50's, which actually made it a bit of fun. I'll also write a comedy screen play based on this book someday when I have a week or two to spare just for kicks.

Now that this is all finished (with the exception of a cover, which Marcus Froment will be illustrating this week), I'm going back to work on Spinward Fringe Fronline. Time to go back to what I really enjoy: writing fiction!

RL

Coming soon: 2008 in review!

Night by Night: Finally, an explanation on the name of this blog.

There was a time, a very long time, when all my best work was done after dark. Creative work has always come naturally to me after the sun is down and the lights are dimmed.

I like taking my chosen challenges on when everyone else is asleep, whether I'm writing, working or playing hard online with friends. I miss working creatively at night, to be honest. It's one of the reasons why I left World of Warcraft, dropped a call center job last year, but we don't always get to work on our own projects when we'd like.

These days I work at night, the money is better and frankly, it's not as busy. The challenges I face at night are totally different. I've been doing customer care for over ten years, backing many different companies selling and supporting many different products and services. Going back to that in order to pay the bills is nothing more than an economic venture, so showing up for every shift and doing my best is a massive challenge. I can say for an absolute certainty that I wouldn't be there if I didn't need the money, and frankly, money is a low motivator for me.

This article and this site aren't here so I can complain about where I am and what I'm doing, however. Millions of people dislike their jobs, and millions of people show up every day for decades until they retire, IF they get the opportunity to retire. If I were truly unhappy I would be looking for other work or maybe trying harder to market the books I'm self publishing.

In short, Night by Night is a fitting name for my own blog because throughout my adult life my greatest challenges are undertaken during that time. Just as important is the fact that my job, my writing and other creative pursuits are all tests of endurance. Nothing is completed in just one night for me, no objective is won based on one evening's effort.


I take it one night at a time, whether it's just showing up for work regardless of how I feel about being there, taking pleasure in working on a new book or spending time with friends.

Hope that answers your question, Mr Anonymous.

RL

Project Moo Revealed

There's this short non fiction book that I wrote between First Light Chronicles: Freeground and Limbo, called The Call Center Survival Guide.

It was code named Project Moo as a gag between the editor and myself, partially because I had no idea if it was any good, and partially for other inside joke reasons.

Now, it took a while, because very intelligent people are generally very busy people, thus my editor is a very busy person, but she managed to take a look at it and the verdict is in.

It's a go, I'll be giving it some more attention after I've finished the third installment of the First Light Chronicles and writing the last two chapters. After that it'll be edited and put into print. It's already been picked through legally, so there is no risk of me being fired for writing or publishing it, and frankly there are actually a number of helpful points and suggestions between the covers.

I'm glad that there's something new on the way to the shelves, but more importantly I'm glad it's a useful piece of nonfiction. If this helps anyone who is looking to work in, or is working in a call center then it was worth writing. There will be more on this as we move through the slow steps of final writing, editing then printing.

RL

How the hell did I spell 'personal' with a 'U'??

Well, I just finished editing Project Moo, and it's time to hand it off to my suddenly overworked editor. I'm really hoping that there's not much work for her to do after I picked through it myself. After it's all set up with the publisher, I promise to let all my fans (I think there are three people who read this blog regularly, one is my Mom, hi!), in on what the book is really called.