Year-End Gratitude

If there were ever a year that we are grateful to see end, it’s 2020. Yes, it started with some bright promise that quickly faded as COVID-19 invaded and took control. Let’s not focus on the dark side, however. Despite the cloud that’s hung over us, there are some things for which to be grateful.

Change was thrust upon us, and organizations learned that remote working can be successful. Once we do emerge from this pandemic, the workplace will change. Hybrid working arrangements – some days at home, some days in the office – are likely to be the norm in many industries, ushering in a new era for work-life balance and flexibility. And job seekers will have more geographic flexibility as the realization takes hold that workers don’t have to live in the same city where the employer’s office is located. This is just the beginning. 

For us, we’ve enjoyed personal successes on the writing front, for which we are grateful. It started in February with a surprise package from our publisher containing The Manager’s Answer Book translated into simplified Chinese, and The Big Book of HR translated into Vietnamese. And while we haven’t received it yet, foreign rights were sold for The Conflict Resolution Phrase Book, which will be translated into Arabic. 

February also brought the opportunity from our publisher for a 10-year anniversary edition of The Big Book of HR. The ink was barely dry on the contract when the pandemic hit, making us totally rethink how some of the revisions will need to be addressed. But hey, who doesn’t like a challenge and the opportunity to stay busy.

A big thrill came in late May when we were notified that The Manager’s Answer Book was the winner in the career book category of the prestigious Next Generation Indie Book Awards, which our fabulous agent, Marilyn Allen, encouraged us to enter. Unfortunately, the awards ceremony, which we’re told is a magical night in the publishing industry, moved online like so many events. We watched it on Facebook Live while we were “together” on the phone. If nothing else, this year has been about innovation and creativity as we all coped with a new reality.

The writing success we are most grateful for is that last Tuesday, December 1, marked the release date and journey’s end for They Did What? Unbelievable Tales from the Workplace, which was finally published after years of work. Now we can look to 2021 for some new challenges. 

Finally, and most importantly, we recognize the many people who contributed to these successes. They include our families and friends, our readers, and our support teams who helped us get this book (and our blogs and social media) edited, finished, distributed, and promoted. We are especially grateful to them. 

Even in these trying times, take a moment to acknowledge your own personal successes and express gratitude to the people who touch your lives. We wish you a healthy and happy 2021.

Barbara and Cornelia

Journey’s End

 

Eight years ago, when we first discussed writing “the book every HR person threatens to write,” we never imagined it would be a journey. Okay, some of you are saying, “What took them so long? What about those contests to write your novel in 30 days?” Well, let’s share a bit about how this book came together and why it is coming out in 2020 and not in 2012 when it all began.

Our plan was simple, or so we thought. Interview a hundred or so (well, not that many) of our HR and business colleagues and friends. and ask them to share their zaniest stories of workplace behavior. With those stories in hand, all we would have to do is write them up just like we’d written The Big Book of HR. (“It won’t take us very long to write.”) After all, we wrote The Big Book of HR in less than six months. Once written, it would be edited and published – probably within a few months. 

It didn’t quite turn out that way. First, enter our publisher, who kept asking us for more books – three to be exact and a revised edition of The Big Book of HR. Next, we realized that gathering the stories was fun and easy, but we couldn’t tell them exactly as we heard them. We’d have to use the idea of the stories, but camouflage the details to maintain confidentiality and assure we’d have friends left when we were finished.

What to do? The answer was simple. Write a creative nonfiction book that is like historical fiction where you take a part of a story or fact and create a narrative around it. How to do it? That was our challenge.

Since the other books we’d written together were nonfiction, we had much to learn. So, we took classes, attended writer’s conferences, and listened to podcasts and webinars to learn about story arcs, writing dialogue and transitions, and creating characters. Then we created a fictional company and characters and used them to tell the stories. And don’t forget the endless reviews, rewrites, and edits – which every writer goes through. Finally, we have book that portrays the people issues that can arise in any workplace; tells stories that spotlight the world of HR leaders and how they keep things on an even keel; and provides a glimpse behind the scenes into compelling and relatable tales.

It’s time to announce that They Did What? Unbelievable Tales from the Workplace is finished. To say we are beyond excited is a vast understatement. It will be available on December 1 either directly from our publishing partner at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/they-did-what or wherever books are sold. See our website https://www.bigbookofhr.com/they-did-what for more information.

No matter your preference, ebook or physical book, there’s a copy available for you from your bookseller of choice. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it. And positive reviews on Amazon are always appreciated.

Thanks for being on this journey with us.

Cornelia and Barbara