Nau mai, haere mai.
Welcome.
So, some of you know I've been battling Amazon to get a proof copy, actually it's two proofs of two different titles. I did win but the cost to my sanity was high. 
It's starting to feel like they discriminate against New Zealanders. Uh huh. Not kidding. 
If they didn't then they wouldn't persistently tell me to use another address or to try an Australian address. They wouldn't declare they can't ship "dangerous goods" to me, time and time again. They wouldn't constantly tell me they can't ship alcohol to a Dry Zone. 

FYI - none of those things are relevant to NZ. None of them. And NONE of those things are relevant to the things I order. I have only ever ordered books from Amazon. Just books. (Apparently they're dangerous books and can be drunk?)

We're all by ourselves down here at the bottom of the world. We are the last stop before Antartica. You'd think Americans would know that what with Operation Deep Freeze and whatnot. 
Australians know where we are, they know we're not part of them and don't want to be, thanks. 
So, we know the Amazon help desk people are NOT in Australia.  

Maybe Amazon would like to pay the airfares so I can go collect books from an Australian address? (I kinda have one in Perth and I'd be happy to collect the books from there if Amazon would like to book me on NZ175.) 
Don't imagine that would fly. 🙂 
But this is the third or maybe fourth year I've had this battle. I'm not kidding myself that anyone has fixed it. They've told me that before and it's lies. Big fat frustrating lies.

I will find out when the time comes to order author copies of my latest book. I'm going to need tequila on hand for that one. I think we all know I'll be fighting the fight again.  

Anywho, a proof arrived today. It's for my text book (Where's the Dog?) It will never be for sale. It is intended solely for me to teach from - hence the ridiculous price and fact that it says on Amazon, where the blurb should be, that it is NOT for sale. It will never be approved for sale. Sadly, you can't just delete something on Amazon.
 
They're pretty fucking annoying in a number of ways. (They also own Goodreads - and we all know that's a piece of absolute shite full of pirate bastards and images they shouldn't fucking have but I digress ...)

What you can buy is the workbook (Don't kill the chicken.)

I have also ordered some copies of 'Don't kill the chicken' for my students incase they'd like to purchase them from me (vastly cheaper). They should be here by Thursday, I think. And apparently, the proof for [Foxtrot Mike Lima] will arrive on Monday. Hooray. 

I know it seems way early to be concerned with proofs and such but it really isn't. By the time I get it, read it very carefully, potentially make a few change. March will be stomping along. Yes, I know the book doesn't launch until June but time vanishes. I don't know where it goes but it fucking goes. Also, I have to factor in fighting just to get them shipped to me. That can take days. Can't be leaving things until the last minutes. 
Seriously, where does the time go?

I was expecting my posters today but no, they haven't updated the tracking at all since the 8th. Being let down in all directions here at the moment - this time it's Warehouse Stationery. It's all well and good assigning a tracking number but maybe it should've been picked up and delivered? 

What is wrong with people?
Clearly, a nice glass of merlot is called for. 
Also, [Foxtrot Mike Lima] is up for pre-order.

Oh, one more thing: 
haere rā