TO: Expat Almanac readers

FROM: Louise

SUBJECT: Not Too Proud to Beg

Did Tom ever tell you that he is the man who brought the public radio “beg” to the West Coast? It was working so well for a public station in New York that he initiated his own “Buck-a-Watt” campaign at KLCC in Eugene, Oregon, in 1974. They needed 10,000 dollars for a 10,000-watt transmitter and got it three days ahead of schedule (in Eugene the boisterous celebrations are renown). Now we all look upon public radio solicitation is a plague, but the cause is a good one.

Still, we don’t like to beg, especially not on our own behalf. At least we’re not asking you to send cash. Although the reviews of The Expat Almanac book on Amazon are great, there are very few of them. So this is The Beg: please revisit our page on Amazon.com, throw us some stars, and hopefully, write a brief helpful review. (It doesn’t take long. Amazon only wants about twenty words.) It would mean a lot to us.

Good news: Two hardcopy proofs arrived yesterday. They’re pictured at the top of this post.

More good news: So far, nearly seven hundred Expat e-books have been downloaded in six days, which is a bit stunning. We don’t personally know that many people, so you must have been spreading the word. Thank you if you were part of that!

Meanwhile, for those of you who want MORE BLOG, we’ll just say that besides book work, we are busy pulling the apartment together. Tom is still building furniture, I’m still making pillows and curtains, we are being total temporary hermits, and after six months of doing nothing, it really feels good to be back in action. We recommend six months by the sea to anyone who is feeling burned out or a tad lackluster.

Who was it who said the secret to happiness is having someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to? At this moment, we are truly blessed.

Thanks in advance for your review. Like public radio, we’ll stop begging when we can. Then, no more begging. No. More. Begging. Love you.