An Unexpected Pleasure

Chris Heimerdinger has been a favorite author of mine and a good friend for many years, as well as one of the inspirations for my desire to become an author myself. Recently on his blog, he announced that he was offering a special deal for pre-ordering his newest book, which will be hot off the presses on October 1. I was elated to hear this, but somewhat despondent, because, with our current financial situation, I knew it wouldn't be practical for me to pre-order it, or perhaps even to purchase it when it comes out. When I explained my dilemma to my sweet wife, her answer was immediate. She said: "I know how much this means to you. Go ahead and order the book. We will be just fine." With her encouragement, I placed a call to order the book and spoke to Chris directly. This was the first in-person contact I'd had with him. I had interacted with him on his websites and via e-mail but never before spoken to him. He couldn't have been nicer. He patiently took my information, then took time to ask me how my writing career was going. (I had told him about it before.) He acted as if he didn't have any other concerns or calls waiting. He and I spoke for 12 minutes. He called back a couple of minutes later with a follow-up question. And if that wasn't fantastic enough, he called me again the next day apologizing that he'd forgotten one additional question. I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the attentiveness with which he took my order. My wife encouraged me to write this experience down in my journal. And since this blog is now my journal, I thought I'd post this experience to share with everyone. It was one of the best experiences I will ever have in my life.