Saturday, February 20, 2010

alert and oriented x 2

I am embarrassed to admit this, but I might as well just tell you, since it's the end of February already. When I was in New York this before Christmas and went to my publisher's office (my book is being published by Grand Central Publishing, which is part of the Hachette Book Group) they told me that my book was looking good, and on schedule for publication in March. Since it was December, I erroneously assumed that they meant this March, as in March 2010. Now, obviously, I know very little about publishing, and though I was under the impression that it took about a year from the time that a final manuscript is submitted to the time the book actually comes out, I thought--oh, I don't know what I thought. All I know is that they said March and I thought they meant this March but what they really meant (as would be obvious to anyone who has, you know, a calendar and some sense that Things take time to happen) they meant next March, as in March 2011. Which is a year from now. See, I told you it was embarrassing. Misunderstadings! Confusion! Cutely trying to cover for misunderstandings and confusion with excessive stammering and blinking! It's like a Hugh Grant movie!

Apparently we are still right on schedule, but I guess I was looking at...a different schedule. Which is why I'm still flogging through one final set of readability/clarification edits on the manuscript, after which point, hopefully I will just throw the book into the book-making machine, and I will never have to read it again. Until the copyedits.

"What's the deal with calendars?" (The preceding was to have been read in a Seinfeld voice.)


* * *


(Mandatory aside about the olympics)

I think I am the only person in the world who has not watched any of the Olympics at all. I've tried--I usually love the Olympics--but every time I turn it on, it's like, Women's Curling or some such thing--so I haven't been following the games. Usually I can be counted on to at least suss out when the figure skating is (there's something about figure skating, not just the music and the jumping and the nude netting on the costumes but something about how smooth the ice looks is just mesmerizing) but this year, I just haven't had the urge to tune in. Maybe if I knew more about the athletes, and how they PERSEVERED and OVERCAME OBSTACLES and maybe if someone's mom was LEGALLY BLIND and had to sit all up close to the TV screen to watch them perform their long program. But I don't much follow sports either, so I guess I'll just look at the pictures on The New York Times and wish I were able to stay upright on a pair of skis.


* * *


And finally, a picture of Mack playing in a patch of sun like a damn kitten:




His first word besides "Mama" and "Dada" (which, according to the Denver Developmental Chart, do not count as words, though any parent would beg to differ) is "STOP." This is what he shouts all day long, mostly when you're trying to remove him from grievous harm (chokey toy, step stool, open manhole cover, shark tank, etcetera.) "STOP." We are in big trouble with this one.

26 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:17 PM

    Brilliant photo of Mack!

    Damn...gotta wait another *year* to read your book?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous8:26 PM

    Michelle, my heavens. That picture is stunningly beautiful. Please tell us you had your camera set on its highest resolution and you can use that image to print it out *really big* and frame it and keep it forever.

    And no, you are *not* the only person to have not watched ANY of the Olympics. We haven't watched any, either. We choose not to have any kind of cable or tv channels, and this works out really well for us... except during:

    1.) The Olympics, in which case I'm too lazy to get tv just for that, but I do stew a bit in that I feel I am missing out big time, and

    2.) Some sort of hideous national catastrophe, in which case there's no time to get channels and I keep up via internet.

    So no, it's not just you not watching.

    It's fine by me that you're not watching, because HELLO... more time for you to blog, Twitter and work on your book!

    ReplyDelete
  3. when i think of how fast 2009 flew by... (and two months of 2010 already?) well, your book will be out in no time.
    what a great surreal picture of mack and his shadow!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You know, I thought it was a bit soon for the book to be out this March but then you're so prolific I figured it was all taken care of. Can't say I'm not disappointed it won't be out soon but I'm looking forward to reading it whenever it's published.

    Keep well!

    ReplyDelete
  5. You are so awesome it's almost scary. The photo is beautiful--and yep, it's going to be just a little while until the book is here! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous12:00 AM

    When you said March, I assumed this March as well, with a little voice in me saying 'WOW, that's FAST!.

    I watched some olympics... I watched in awe when it looked like three Korean skaters were gonna sweep the podium for Men's short track speed skating, than my face contorted into something horrible watching the 2nd/3rd in skaters totally wipe out when the 3rd one aggressively made an inside pass attempting for Gold.

    The fun followed(for me) was reading Korean blogs/newsites/message boards bitching out the 3rd skater. Drama glore! Adjective glore that I never knew in Korean.. :-o Apparently, people are threatening to throw eggs at him when he he flies back to Korea after the games. I hope he has body guards to protect him at the airport.

    Heh. I'm terrible. I'll be watching other games the the Korean skaters are in to see if the one that cost himself and another skater medals can redeem himself. I like drama.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Pretty much straight 'ditto' to A Daring Adventure - we, too are Olympic-less, so I try to look at the news so that I can keep up the basics of office chitchat.

    And the photo of Mack is adorable, but it's hilarous with the added caption. If you do end up printing out the photo to have in your home, I'm guessing that a caption would be more than a little too precious to include, but it would be awesome.

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  8. Think of how fortunate you are for Mack's first word to be "stop." I'm sure my (future) children will start with some Italian curse word that my husband utters periodically. Hopefully it will be one that the American public is not familiar with.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Maura9:14 AM

    My older son's first word was "Uh-oh!" Even before Mama and Dada. Makes you wonder about our parenting skills, huh?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous9:53 AM

    One of the Canadian team *is* legally blind... A x-country skier competing in both the Olympics and Paraolympics. There's your problem--NBC coverage. Just put as sheild on your computer to block your location and try to get CTV coverage online. You'll still hear plenty about the US team. Plenty.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous7:14 PM

    The winter olympics are so meh. I mean I appreciate the raw talent and dedication that it takes to become an olympian, but the last thing I want to see if a bunch of people freezing in the snow at the olympics when I'm trying to stay warm at home myself. Also I dont really understand why curling is a sport. sorry :-/

    ReplyDelete
  12. OH_EM_RES7:28 PM

    Fantastic picture!
    As to first words, my mother still swears my first word was no, so what does that say? LOL

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous7:42 PM

    love the photo. i actually have a similar picture of my cat that i took a few weeks ago, no joke!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I was thinking that the reason you were blogging so much was to build hype for your book. Are you going to keep it going until next March, or are we going to see a dying down? Prove me wrong!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I didn't watch any of them, either. Just saw the horrible ice dancing costumes on line.

    ReplyDelete
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