the underwear drawer

money can be exchanged for goods and services

The first part of my book advance arrived today. It was just a normal check, not a big cardboard one like in the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes, but exciting nonetheless. This probably shows what a dilettante I am, but hell, I'll just tell you--after hearing about the book deal last fall, there was a period of relative silence because the holidays where coming up, and there was a lot of contract-negotiating stuff going on that I wasn't really all that involved in. Actually getting the signed copy of my contract back in the mail last Friday and getting the first part of the advance today is a bit of a relief. It's just a little solid proof that I didn't just dream this whole thing.

I also don't mind telling you (and perhaps some of you will scoff at this, because we clearly live in a big apartment, but let's just say that the size of our current living accommodations has very little to do with our actual financial situation) that after almost five years of residency, I could frankly use the money. I mean, let's be frank, there will be no Scrooge McDuckery with this book advance (swimming in dubloons, etcetera), but with a big move coming up and a couple of weeks off between jobs and a private school tuition to start paying, it really, really helps.

After the mail came and we duly inspected the advance check before putting it away, Joe said, "Well, I guess it's true."

"You guess what's true?"

"You really did get a book deal."

So I guess I'm not the only one that didn't quite believe it up until now.