Adventures in San Francisco

I'm finally out from under the deluge of e-mail (and plain ol' snail mail) that accumulated last week, and I've properly assured Tipper the Wonder Poodle that I'm going to pay lots of attention to her this week, so time to post the San Francisco update!

Got in on Tuesday and quickly located Terri Clark and Lynda Sandoval, my partners in crime (and, with Ellen Hopkins, my co-authors on Breaking Up Is Hard To Do.) We went shopping, cruised over to Castro to see the neighborhood, then went back to the Ferry Building Marketplace for coffee and some decadent sourdough cheese wheels. (Lynda ended up buying a whole bag of cheese wheels to bring back to the hotel. Not that we mocked her or anything.)

That night, we donned our "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" T-shirts and hit McAfee Stadium to see the Oakland A's take on the Kansas City Royals. Check out our book on the big screen!



Wednesday was RWA's "Readers for Life" booksigning for literacy. Over 500 authors signed books, with all proceeds going to literacy charities. Check out Terri signing her first copies of Sleepless! The book will be in stores any day now, so keep an eye out for it. If you enjoyed Ter's story in Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, you'll love diving into Sleepless. She sold a ton of copies at the literacy signing!






Another major highlight of the night for me was getting to see Maryam Mehrkhast, who was my best friend in fifth and sixth grade (until I moved, thanks to my dad's Army career.) Maryam and I were inseparable in those days, and it was incredible to get to see her again. The way we were chatting, you'd never know it'd been so long since we'd seen each other. She's still gorgeous inside and out.


During the two-hour event, I got to meet a lot of readers and I signed a slew of books (when I wasn't catching up with Maryam!) She took this picture of me talking to readers while I signed copies of Goddess Games. (And, for those of you who missed the event, but want an autographed book, it's not too late! You can send me a self-addressed, stamped envelope and request autographed bookplates to stick in the front of your Niki book(s.) Just tell me how many you want! All the info is on my site, right here.)

Thursday and Friday passed in a blur, and Saturday night was the Golden Heart/RITA Awards Ceremony and reception. Lynda and Terri and I got dolled up, though Lynda had to have very good posture or risk a Janet Jackson moment in her dress:



We let Lynda take this one, as she said she felt safer behind the camera:



Thankfully, all three of us made it through the night with no wardrobe malfunctions!

StubHub Redux

So I got an e-mail via my website from the Executive Customer Care Manager at StubHub, who I'm guessing has a Google Blogs notification that pings her when StubHub gets mentioned in a blog. She asked me to call her, which I thought was cool, considering that I had nothing good to say about StubHub in my earlier post, wherein I described my Great George Michael Ripoff.

Long story short, she apologized for StubHub's mistake (though it was really a long series of mistakes by person after person over five days that left me out $200+ in tickets) and credited me $100 at StubHub for a future purchase.

I wasn't expecting to get anything, and didn't ask for anything, so it's certainly better than a poke in the eye. Not sure I'll use the credit, though. I mean, someone would have to be able to properly LIST their tix first, right? And you can almost never get concert or baseball tickets for two people for $100, which means I'd have to shell out more $$ in order to use the $100. AND...if there's a problem, I'm not too keen on calling to get it fixed (though everyone I talked to was nice, no one actually fixed my problem. Which is a problem.) So we'll see.

Later today (or as soon as I get a chance!): An update on all that happened in San Francisco. Great pics to come!

Hello, San Francisco!

I'm heading to California tomorrow for the Romance Writers of America's National Conference. Tuesday night I'll be attending the Oakland A's game against the Kansas City Royals along with two of my fellow Breaking Up Is Hard To Do authors, Terri Clark and Lynda Sandoval. Look for us on the big screen! (As a side note: The first-ever major league game I attended was in Kansas City, with the Royals playing the A's. Dennis Eckersley was on the mound for the A's that afternoon, so it was memorable!)

And speaking of Breaking Up Is Hard To Do: YA librarian Naomi Bates posted a review of all four stories on her blog today. Check it out right here!

On Wednesday, I'll be autographing books at RWA's annual literacy signing. Over 500 authors will be autographing books, with all proceeds being donated to literacy charities. If you're in the area, please take the time to come to the San Francisco Marriott, located in downtown San Francisco at the corner of Fourth Street and Market. The event takes place from 5:30 - 7:30 pm. Look for me alphabetically in the B's. (Yep, there are so many of us we fill a room and have to be seated alphabetically, or you'll never find the author you want!) It's an event that's worth the drive if you're a big reader.

Finally, on Friday, I'll be one of the official RWA Bloggers, posting a report about the conference to the RWA website. They gave me an official logo and everything! I'm scheduled for 10 am Pacific, so tune in to get the scoop on the conference experience.

Hope to see many of you there, and to see those of you who can't make it to San Francisco online!

StubHub Can Kiss My...

business goodbye. Not that they care. I mean, I'm one person. But let me warn you: If you try to sell event tickets with them, you may get screwed. Consider going elsewhere.

Normally, I'm not a ticket seller. I don't buy tickets just to resell...I buy if I want to go. As many of you know from an earlier blog, I snagged George Michael tix back in May. I was soooo happy...the guy hasn't been to the US in seventeen years, and I'm a die-hard fan. (Laugh all you want. I do not care.)

But then I found out the Red Sox were playing the Yankees at the EXACT same time, and my husband already bought us tickets. Luckily, the Sox changed the game time to 1:05 pm, so I thought I was safe...until last week, when they changed game time right back to 8:05 pm, exactly the same time George hits the stage. On top of that, the friend who'd planned to go with me couldn't make it, and neither could my backup George Michael fan. Talk about heartbreaking! But since I obviously can't be in two places at once, and I had someone to go with me to baseball, but not to see George, off to StubHub I went, boo-hooing all the way.

I listed the tickets, but they were only up for two days before the "last minute" deadline crept up, which means you have to re-list using StubHub's Last Minute Services, which the site says is "quick and easy!" Well, here's the dirty truth about their Last Minute Services: It's not even StubHub who runs it. You sign up, tell them where your tix are, and they say they'll get back to you within 48 hours to give you a code to re-list the tickets. (And many places on the site even say within 24 hours. But we'll go with the 48, just to give them the benefit of the doubt.) Did I get contacted in those 48 hours? Nope. And repeated calls to customer service after the 48 hours were up didn't help. The first guy said he saw my request in the system, said I should've already been called or e-mailed, and promised to fix it "right away." No e-mail or call back. The next day I called again. A woman in customer service said, "My supervisor's right here...we'll get this fixed and call you back in 30 - 40 minutes. I'm so sorry this is happening!" Three hours later...nothing. So I call again, and the guy I get in customer service says, "Oh, Last Minute Services doesn't have to call you back. It's optional."

HUH? What happened to "quick and easy" or "24 hours" or even "48 hours"?

Nowhere on the site does it say that. And in the meantime, you check off a box that says you will not sell the tix elsewhere. In other words: you're giving them the right to sell your tickets...but they may or may not even let you LIST them. And you can't go elsewhere. Like to (hint, hint) Ace Tickets. Or, say, turn them over to TicketMaster for a possible re-sale to someone who really wants to see George Michael.

So finally, LAST NIGHT, less than 24 hours before the concert, I get an e-mail with the address to which I must send the tickets so they can be listed for sale. I send the PDF *exactly* as requested within two minutes of receiving the e-mail. An hour later, they send back an e-mail saying it's not a PDF. So I re-send, IMMEDIATELY, and make it clear that it's a PDF of the tickets. No response. No password or code or whatever to allow me to list them for sale now that they have the PDF. And when I called back this morning, they said, "We can't help you."

So I have NO tickets. NO listing. NO money. NO one to contact.

StubHub, you can kiss my...well, you know. (And if whoever at StubHub or Last Minute Services got my PDF file sits in my seats, or gives 'em to their buddies, StubHub, you are SO gonna hear it.)

George, I hope it's a WONDERFUL concert. I'd never sell your tix if I could make it. And I'll never, ever deal with StubHub again.

And We're Walking...

If you've ever been to Fenway Park, or watched a fly ball head toward the Green Monster on TV, you've likely seen this (or a similar) logo on the wall:




The Jimmy Fund supports cutting-edge cancer research and first-rate, compassionate care at one of the nation's leading cancer hospitals, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. I'm a big supporter of the Jimmy Fund because the money they raise makes a real difference for those fighting cancer--of all types.

This year, to help raise money for the Jimmy Fund, I'm lacing up my Asics to participate in the annual Jimmy Fund Walk. The Walk covers several routes, but I am choosing to tackle the longest--the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon route, which runs from Hopkinton, Massachusetts all the way to Boston. I'm sure I'll come home with a mangled pedicure...and a huge smile on my face. I hope that you will help support my efforts to raise money for this fantastic organization--they save lives every single day, and the research they do could very well save your life or the life of a loved one in the future.

Check out my personal Jimmy Fund Walk page here or just type www.jimmyfundwalk.org/nikiburnham into your browser window. Every little bit--even five dollars--helps. You can donate anonymously, in the name of a loved one...however you want. What's important is that if we all work together, we can beat cancer!