Fear of Failure

Years ago, when I was living in Palau, I decided to try to write a book. It was a good time to make a first attempt because there are, let's see, multiply by the integer, carry the one, subtract Oprah, 112 hours in a day when you live on a one-square-mile island in a country of 22,000 people on the equator.

Even more, there are only nine things to do in Palau. Five of those involve coming in close contact with sea snakes and the other four are eating.

And you people thought I couldn't do math.

I think I became a much better writer during that year. Typing out 95,000 words will do that. But I was young, and pretty dumb, and moderately to severely depressed, so I really didn't know what I was doing.

By the time I moved back to the United States of God Bless Sea Snakeless America, I didn't really know what to do with those 95,000 words. I did some research about how to get a book published, and I even contacted some people who were kind enough to give me feedback and advice. But that whole process was incredibly daunting and intimidating. So I just sort of walked away from it without really trying very hard.

Pictures & Weekly Distractions

After yesterday's post about the book writing, many of you sent me such helpful information regarding finding a literary agent and publisher. THANK YOU. You Strangers are the wind beneath my wings. I just asked Bette Midler if she was free to give you an individual performance as a thank you and she said that she totally is and will be dressed in clothes from the '80s and waiting for you on Youtube.

Several of you emailed asking what the book is about. Basically it's the story of a young boy who gets a letter inviting him to go to a school for witches and wizards and it follows his seven year progression in which he has to fight off dark magic and stay out of trouble with a couple of close friends.

I kid. A book like that would never sell.

I'll do a fuller post on it soon when I have the stamina to write it out. For now just rest assured: if you like Stranger, you should really like this.

And now, your pictures and distractions:



My worlds are colliding.

Book Writing Update

I may have mentioned at some point here that I'm not exactly "in the know" on what the kids are calling "technology." Pretty much every medium of social media scares and confuses me. And what's worse, I have not attempted in the slightest to keep up on electronic devices.

Currently I own an ipod, which I bought in 2007 and have not upgraded since. I have never put a single thing onto that ipod. My sister Krishelle takes it from me every six months or so and returns it with an updated collection of tunes. She tried to make me part of the process the first few times because of something about "if you teach a man to fish" but as it turns out I'm like an inanimate object, and you can't teach an inanimate object to fish.

The phone I had in the U.S. before I came to Palau is what the kids are calling a "smart" phone. But this was only because that same sister stole my very basic and incredibly unreliable phone and replaced it with her old phone after she upgraded to something that I was pretty sure mankind would not develop before the great and terrible day of the Lord's Second Coming.

The World's Largest Cat

A little while back I posted the link for you all to vote for Dean Bullock to get a spot in the world championship Ironman race. Dean has terminal cancer and has a dream to compete in the Ironman in Kona. His family posted a video of him on the Ironman site and if he gets enough votes, Ironman will grant him a spot in the race for which a person usually has to qualify with an insanely fast time.

Thanks in part to your help, Dean made it through to the final round of voting, which will last ten days. If you would all take a minute and vote for him here, you'll have done a great thing today. You can vote multiple times too, in case you've got nothing going on today.

I grew up with several of Dean's kids and have considered them great friends over the years. In fact, I may or may not have had unreciprocated crushes on two of his daughters. But I'm not bitter! My cousin Katie married one of Dean's sons a while back and our families have stayed connected partly because of that. They are wonderful people. The kind of people any person is blessed to know. And Dean is a great man. I hope the best for him as he tries to get into this race. EVEN THOUGH I THINK ANYONE WHO DOES AN IRONMAN IS INSANE.