You wanna know something that feels really, really cool?
Opening up the new (Dec. 24th) issue of PEOPLE magazine and seeing your book reviewed in the book section.
P. 55.
I would like to say that I handled this situation with elegance, grace, and a certain je ne sais quoi.
Not a chance.
I’m a dork. I’m a big, excitable-bordering-on-Labrador Retriever puppy dork.
I’m so deeply uncool that I immediately went up to the nice woman who runs my favorite newsstand by the subway entrance, plopped the magazine (open to p.55) on the counter and said, “Hey, that’s my book!” Then I stood there, grinning like an idiot.
And in that magical New York City sort of way, she and her husband got excited for me. The old woman buying a lotto ticket got excited. The guy who’d stopped at the window to buy a Daily News got excited. We were all excited standing at the newsstand. And then I bought five copies. I have no idea what I’m going to do with five copies of People magazine. Maybe make a collage.
It’s doubly exciting to me because it is reviewed by the lovely and talented Ms. Sue Corbett (12 AGAIN, FREE BASEBALL). And I’m on the same page as Sherman Alexie’s THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE STORY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN, winner of this year’s National Book Award for YA fiction and a funny, poignant read. (The last chapter is a beauty.) I am, as they say, absolutely chuffed.
Barry and I celebrated by going to see I AM LEGEND and having milkshakes at our favorite diner.
More good news? I’ve learned to count. I actually subtracted today’s date from December 26th and I’m pretty sure we’re talking 12 days until TSFT pubs. (26-14=12. Right?)
Here is today’s random TSFT quote:
The water nymph’s webbed hand caresses my ankle. With a gasp, I shake it loose. Her colored scales remain on my skin in a jeweled handprint.
“You’ll not take my skin without a fight,” I warn, and my words echo in the cave’s emptiness.
OFFICIAL TSFT COUNTDOWN: 12 days.