Ben Schultz The Joy Was All Mine Central Nebraska

From the Ground Up

Ask a Manager

From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together

Crewel Creatures

Beautiful bird and animal designs, inspired by the African world, in crewel and Jacobean embroidery. Following the success of Crewel Intentions and Crewel Twists, which introduced embroiderers to using needle-lace and loom-weaving techniques, comes Crewel Creatures, the third title in this series by renowned embroiderer Hazel Blomkamp. Animals and birds are popular subjects in crewel embroidery, and here Hazel introduces needleworkers to the beautiful, exotic creatures found in the African wild. Following the Jacobean embroidery style for which Hazel is well known, and incorporating the subtle influence of the fractal designs found in zentangle art, Hazel brings beads and other three-dimensional elements into her designs, capturing the stunning and colourful art that is traditionally associated with Africa. Those new to Hazel's work will find a useful guide to the essential crewel stitches, needle-lace and needle-weaving techniques in an easy-to-follow how-to section and stitch gallery, and all embroiderers will be impressed by the wealth of design ideas and inspiration this book has to offer. With every project, step-by-step instructions and gorgeous photographs are included, along with a template of the design. All the projects are stitched and embellished on natural coloured linen, making them not only perfect for framing for display but also wonderfully economical for embroiderers to work on.