Jul 3, 2008
Thank God for Summer Holidays
Seriously, it is about time. Memorial Day was 8,000 years ago, and my best friend got married over Memorial Day. It was totally fun, but not the relaxing long weekend I'm hoping for with the 4th of July. We're staying in town. We have few plans. Bella is flopped on the carpet on her back, paws akimbo, just thinking about it. I echo her sentiments.
My house is a mess and in serious need of dusting. I have a huge deadline at work. But all I want to do is put on my swimming suit and go sprawl in the sunshine with a nonreview paperback book.
We did go on Tuesday night to a new sailing shop in Merriam, Kansas and were able to procure REAL lines for Puffer the Sailboat. While we were there, they insisted on showing us the new and used small boats of 14 to 16 feet (ours is 12, and it's as old as I am, which is so totally not old for a person). I thought I saw a little bit of drool escaping Beloved's mouth as he tenderly patted the hulls in adoration. I reminded him that though I took sailing lessons and learned on a J/30, that was in 1998. I want to completely master sailing Puffer, not to mention pay off debt and finish remodeling Chateau Travolta, before we do something ridiculous like buy a sailboat.
Still, there was this t-shirt in the shop that I almost took home. I normally don't like cheesy motivational t-shirts, posters, or anything of the sort, so inundated am I in corporate America with all that crap (translation: work really hard to make more money for us, and maybe we'll kick you an Applebee's gift card). But this one said:
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
See?
There is no Someday.
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Review of new movie (not out yet) Sixty-Six at Surrender, Dorothy: Reviews. Also! Check out the Sleep Is for the Weak page at BlogHer with contributor bios! And did you see the new event widget in the sidebar? That's how you'll know who will be where signing books this fall. Come on out and see us.
Posted @ 8:07AM in General Frivolity | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Jul 2, 2008
The Voices in My Head Sound Like My Daughter's
The little angel wants so badly to be able to spell.
She can't spell.
Her: "Mommy! What does S-E-S-E spell?"
Me: "Nothing."
Her: "MOMMY!!!! What does N-J-F-P spell?"
Me: "Nothing, honey. You know how to spell my name. Why don't you spell my name?"
Her: "MOOOOOOMMMMYY! What does F-E-P-Q spell?"
Me: "Mommy is driving. My head is sort of starting to hurt. I think you're spelling in another language."
Her: "Mommy! You're not a very good speller."
Posted @ 9:07AM in Parenting | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
Jul 1, 2008
Our Little Book is in the Warehouse
Yesterday I called my publisher to order books for BlogHer. I ordered 150 of them. About half of the contributors are going to BlogHer this year, and we'll be signing and selling these books (cash only -- special BlogHer price $10, no hollah) on Saturday night on the 7th floor of Macy's at the ending cocktail party right after the closing keynote. (!!) If you would've told me two years ago that I would be signing my own book on the 7th floor of Macy's in San Francisco in 2008, I would've punched you in frustration, you lying liar from Liarsville.
Because the book isn't officially in bookstores yet, I had to front the money, which even with an author discount, was pretty painful. I'm hoping I didn't overshoot myself and order too many, especially considering I had to pay to ship them out there and will be lugging or shipping anything left over home. But even the pain of handing over my business account number didn't overshadow the excitement I felt when the book guy told me the books had arrived in the warehouse that afternoon.
That means it exists. The book is sitting somewhere in the world, right now, not an advance review galley, not a PDF, but a real, Dewey Decimal system book.
I e-mailed the contributors to let them know, and Grace wrote me back this totally lovely e-mail, which made me realize I should stop fluttering around thinking about the receipt book I need to buy and calling my accountant to ask how to file a sales tax return and just enjoy the moment. The book is in the warehouse. That means that in a few weeks, I'll be able to hold it in my hands and maybe lick it. And love it and squeeze it and call it George. And take it home and give it a bath, and sleep with it every night for a week.
I'm so not kidding here, people. That is how much I love this collection. I won't lie and say I don't love seeing my name on the cover next to Stacy Morrison's (because she is so real and so cool that I just can't believe she's the editor of a major women's magazine, because I thought you had to be Miranda Priestly to pull that shit off). But I also really love the writing, and the writing is the reason I got the idea in the first place -- because I adore the writing I read as often as possible on the Internet as much as I adore the writing I read on the printed page. The talent of the blogosphere blows my mind on a regular basis. I've always known a lot of great talent goes unpublished because the business of publishing has unbelievably slim margins, but I'm relieved to live in an age when writers can self-publish their work so easily and to so many.
But alas, laptops don't go easily into the bathtub, and they're kind of clunky in an airport or car, and frankly, they look like shit on my bookshelf. Nothing, for me, will ever replace a bound book, so despite the fact that I read online all the time, I'm excited to have some of the strongest work from these writers all wrapped up in 200-odd pages that I can pop in my purse. And also, I'm glad to know that even if the technology changes and something goes horribly wrong and one of the writers loses her entire blog, I'll still have those words safe on my bookshelf. It's comforting.
And it's exciting. I can't wait.
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Pamela won herself some free jeans for her embarrassing jeans story over at Surrender, Dorothy: Reviews.
Posted @ 9:07AM in Writing | Comments (17) | TrackBack (0)
