Sonja is so right...

I admit it. My plan is in fact to be published with my monster of a book and gloat about it endlessly. Failing that, I'll just cry myself to sleep every night. But such is life.

Actually, to be honest, Sonja's fabulous success has inspired me to begin working on my book again... so i've dredged up the many edits that Sonja gave me for Misdirection that i totally ignored and am currently wasting work paper to print out my novel and begin editing (again). No, really this time. :)

At any rate, this is Skye, popping in to say howdy, before I leave again. I'm back from one trip, but am leaving for another. Ah, the life of an unemployed writer is just so tough. But on this trip I will be taking along my edits and will theoretically be working on them. Just you wait, I'll be published yet. But while I will gloat about being published, I will still give all credit to Sonja for being published first. And even though she's too good to talk to me nowadays that she's published, I still love her. :)

Optimism, Cynicism, and Skye

Sonja claims that her glass is half full. I once assessed my family using the glass half full/half empty method. Here were my findings:

My mother: "Half full." In fact, she's probably going to assume it's even more full than it looks. Optimism is her middle name. A more positive, forward thinking woman you will never find. We're lucky to have her around so that her positivity and normalcy can counteract the rest of the crazies running around the family.

My father: "The glass is twice as big as it needs be." Classic engineer. He's not concerned with the outlook, so much as optimizing the current situation. Obviously, what's called for in this situation is a smaller glass. Engineers are great to have around -- not only can they balance your checkbook for you, but they also make sure that your pictures are hung perfectly straight and everything in the house is symmetrical. Very useful people. I lucked out with both my parents.

My brother: "What water? I think i drank it while i was working..." Bryn is, shall we say it politely, a workaholic. I'm trying to cure him of this.

And then there's me: "Oohh! Water!" The nicest thing that can be said about me is that I live IN the moment. I don't worry too much about the future and the consequences, I'm just happy with the right now. Personally, I believe this makes a much happier person that a lot of other people. Motivation? Who needs it.

Actually, the reality is that I'm in interesting blend of both my parents. I'm both optimistic and what my father calls realistic, but most people call cynical. For example, the water glass. This is probably my thought process. "Oooh! Water!" Yes, i already mentioned this, but it bears repeating, since it really is reality. Then I'll think: "The glass is half full! God, I'm such a moron for thinking the glass is half full." So I'm cynical about being optimistic. How screwed up is that?

The moral to this story is that I'm in no way entitled to rain on Sonja's parade about looking at the glass being half full. In fact, I'll encourage her in all this. Go Sonja! You're so 5!

In a side note, the way JB relates the whole water glass thing: "Jeez, Skye left another water glass laying around." He seems to have this thing about me not always finishing my glasses of water. Dunno why. :) I'm just as likely to walk by a few hours later and go: "Oooh! Water!" and drink it then.

Famous-People Impaired

So, if you haven't read Skye's last post, scroll down and read it now. I totally mean it. Because it's just so 5. Have you read it yet? Good. Now I shall tell you why this sort of thing never happens to me:

I never recognize famous people.

Here's an example. Last year, at the RWA Conference in Atlanta, Skye and I were on a lunch break, browsing around at the (rather unimpressive) mall next door. We wandered into a jewelry shop and, while Skye sent me meaning-filled silent glances, all of which I missed, I stared at the pretty sparklies.

When we left the store, she said, "Wow! Our first Nora sighting!"

I, being totally clueless, said, "Nora? Where?"

Skye, my ever-patient friend, said, "Oh jeez. She was the woman in there talking about how she wasn't going to feel bad for buying 2 pairs of earrings and blah blah blah."

And I went, "That was Nora Roberts?"

Sure enough, when I turned to gawk at her (which I'm sure she didn't mind in the least), I confirmed Skye's report.

"Huh. She looks skinnier in person," I, Sonja the ever-wise, remarked.

Not that I would have recognized her even if she looked just like her back cover picture because, like I said, I don't recognize famous people. In some ways, I'm sure that makes me miss out on a lot of stuff, but there's a bright side...

Did you ever see that old movie, Singin' in the Rain? At the beginning, the famous guy asks out the chorus-line dancer and she flatly turns him down. To top it off, she has no idea who the heck he is. And this makes her all the more charming and irresistible to him. So I'm going with the theory that not recognizing famous people makes me charming and irresistible.

Glass half full, remember?

It's Half Full, Darn It

Happy day, people. Not only has my bestest buddy returned from paradise (despite its lack of internet access), but yesterday I got a request for a full! Yaaaay!

Ok, so if you're in the writing world, you know that a request for a full really doesn't mean that much. It means the editor liked my query enough to go, "hmm, I think I'd like to read that." And then my manuscript sits on her desk for a while until she has time to read it, and then she reads it, and then maybe, just maybe, she says, "Oh my god this is the next great American novel!" and she picks up the phone and dials my number so fast that the keypad smokes, and then she begs, begs, BEGS me to sell her my manuscript. Yeah. Shut up and let me have my fantasy. I'm not going to dwell on the fact that there's a larger chance, even if she actually likes my manuscript, that for some reason it's just "not right" for her. All you "glass is half empty" people can blog about that part.

Anyway, if any of you are curious about it, the manuscript that got requested is a short story of mine called Love in Shadow. Click the link to read an excerpt and also to see my brand shiny new website design, which I did last night after exclaiming, "My god, what if she looks at my website?" (Because editors have to look at websites to confirm their potential authors' brilliance, see?)