Say what?

For my book club, we are supposed to read a book next month authored by the political candidate who we will not be voting for in November's election. Thus, I'm reading a book by John McCain. For a moment, I'll set aside my belief that neither John McCain nor Barack Obama has authored any of the books floating around out there under their names. No, for now, I'll just focus on the UTTER INCOMPREHENSIBILITY of this book (Why Courage Matters).

A choice excerpt:

"For that, we should learn what we can of the whole experience of the subject, the hero's life, as it was before and after, and believe that trying to emulate the character it reveals is one tried way to prepare for the tests that might await us and gain hope that our courage will not be wanting in the moment."

I'm sorry; WHAT? Yeah, okay, I can figure out the meaning, but I have to read it three times in order to understand what the hell he's trying to say.

And another:

"I don't think, however extraordinary the courage, that it will attain the grandeur of the inspirational to a sound mind were it motivated by selfish or malevolent purposes, or exercised by someone whose life, on the whole, was contemptible."

HUH?!

Lastly, my personal incomprehensible favorite:

"But the accomplishment could very well have made it harder to help build in a child the kind of courage that made it all possible when the occasions for proving such courage are ever decreasing, when courage doesn't really seem necessary very often."

Maybe I've just been reading too many children's books lately... but seriously, WTF. Next time I check out a book, I'm going to make sure it's in English.

The Fed Express Rolls on Through

GO ROGER!!!!!!!!!

He made handy work of Andy Murray, but I can't say I'm surprised. I never doubted you, Rog.

Best Birthday Ever

1. I wrote "The End" after the last line of my book.
2. I got an alien monster named Torvald in the mail. Pictures forthcoming.
3. I had such an excellent celebration with my buddies from work.
4. Delicious dark chocolate-cherry cake!!!
5. Amazing, wonderful, fabulous, unbelievably awesome family and friends.

The best.

OMG

I FINISHED MY BOOK.

NOT KIDDING.

FINISHED!

FINISHED!

FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As in, the only thing left is revisions. Don't rain on my parade by telling me how extensive revisions can be, because I already know, but LISTEN TO ME I AM FINISHED FINISHED FINISHED FINISHED FINISHED.

This is the first book I have ever written of which I am truly proud. It's taken three years of work. I can't believe it's done! AAAAAH it's FINISHED!

The people demand....

.... and I deliver. At the request of my friend Sumo, I will now be writing about how ridiculous Rafael Nadal (the world's new number-one men's tennis player, for those who don't follow tennis) looks in a tuxedo. Except since this is my blog, I can say whatever I want, and let it be known that though I do feel Rafa's hair looks a little crazy when paired with the formality of the tux, I'm not complaining about anything else.

This, I suppose, begs the question of who I would date if I had the choice: Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. I'm not going to lie--it's a tough choice, but someone has to make it (and sadly, that someone is not me).

The Pros of Roger:
1. Supernaturally skilled at tennis (I'm still not convinced he's human)
2. Richer (although this doesn't really matter to me, it might be nice to go out for a nice dinner)
3. Really good at speaking about five languages

The Pros of Rafa:
1. Younger and therefore more puppylike
2. Endless energy, probably (just look at his record so far this year)
3. Looks pretty good in a tuxedo, even with the funny hair

Though Rafa is incredibly charming, it's really the suaveness of Roger that draws me in. It's especially appealing that he's now actually started to show some emotion on the court. Before, if he made a shot that everyone agreed was obscenely awesome, he wouldn't bat an eye, but now he pumps his fist in a way that just makes you go, "aww."

It's a little tragic that my longest post so far has been this detailed toss-up between Rafa and Roger, but hey, a good topic is a good topic.

Final verdict: Roger... but not by (too) much.

Who's Reading?

I'm sitting here watching my taped Sunday tennis match of Roger Federer vs. Radek Stepanek (GO ROGER!!), but I'm only halfway paying attention because I'm wondering who reads my blog. I know I've picked up a few new readers from FWJ (thanks, guys!), and I want to hear from all of you!

So if you're here, let me know who you are and how I can keep you here. No matter where you came from, I want to know more about you and what you're interested in. Tell me about yourself. Hopefully, we can find something in common, and I can post at least every so often on a topic that each of you find interesting.

What would keep you reading? Do you want wit? Personality? Vibrance? Good looks? Ah, yes, obviously I can provide all of that... but what else? Posts about freelance writing? About writing for children? Would you like giveaways and contests? Good discussion? Your wish is my command, so start wishing!

Welcome to FWJ Readers!

Hey, everybody from FWJ! I'm traveling today, but just in case Deb makes the announcement of the FWJ winner while I'm somewhere in transit, I wanted to leave a welcoming message for all of you (especially Roberta ;o).

Every single one of you is welcome to visit me here anytime--in fact, you guys are the reason I created this blog. In the upcoming weeks and days, you can look forward to regular updates, a link to my resume and writing credits, and a more narrowed focus of posts on writing.

Congratulations to the FWJ Idol winner, and I'm ecstatic to have (I hope) picked up some fans in the process. I miss you guys, so I hope you'll hang out here sometimes!

Those Tricky Agents

If you're interested in this kind of thing, literary agent Nathan Bransford of Curtis Brown Ltd. made an excellent post yesterday about exclusive submissions to agents. He covers partials, fulls, normal terms of an exclusive agreement, how to get out of an exclusive agreement, and throws in some information about revisions to boot. Hmmm... this makes me feel as if I should finish my book already and net an agent. Time to go write!

Frosty Feet

Lately, it's been getting cold when I walk to work in the morning. I suppose I should technically say that it IS cold when I walk to work in the morning. It improves by lunchtime, but I still start to get goosebumps on my arms if I sit in the shade and type on my computer for the whole lunch long.

Also, the other day I could actually see my breath while walking to work. What?! Isn't that supposed to not happen until, like, November? It's still August! I know for a fact it was at least 45 degrees at the time, so what on Earth was going on? Pretty soon my glasses are going to fog up the second I step out of the house, making it impossible for me to go anywhere. If I take them off and walk, I'll run into a signpost. If I just leave them on and foggy, my head will be at a strange 30-degree angle and I still won't be able to see a thing.

(Photo above courtesy of flickr creative commons.)

someday....

Someday soon, I'm going to work up the confidence to make myself a dress like this one. Yeah, that's right, a plastic dress. I know you want one.

After I'm a zen master at fusing plastic into fabric, I'm going to build on my craftiness gradually until I can turn out freaking awesome stuff like this gorilla, this hedgehog, and this eyeball monster. I guess I like creatures. In case you're interested in those crazy ones pictured above, you can find them here.