I won the Lottery!

I hardly ever enter contests. I never play the lottery. It isn't that I don't think I'll win. I just don't like not winning. :) But a few weeks ago I found a contest in a blog I follow regularly: Patricia Wood's blog. The prize: an autographed copy of Lottery! Count me in!

It wasn't actually the contest that got me in. The fact is, I just plain enjoy her blog, and the fact that she talks about how hard it is to write sometimes, and the fact that she writes about regular people kinds of problems (well, the regular people kind if you live in Hawaii on a sailboat!), and the fact that she even replies to people in the comment section and then visits my blog... well, she seems like a friend... a celebrity friend.


At first I didn't so much as enter the contest to compare writing a book to remodeling a kitchen so much as comment for the sake of it. But when she asked for people to send them to her email, and reiterated the prize, I couldn't turn down the opportunity. So I did. And as much as I was crossing my fingers to get that autographed copy, I didn't expect it. Which makes the winning all the sweeter. She was even sweet enough to personalize it!


The thing that tickles my family is that I am totally not a celebrity hound. I could care less about famous people. I suppose I spent enough dinners with my father's "friends" (who were big name people that, to me, were just people I had to behave at dinner with), that I don't see them as much different than anyone else.

And Pat Wood is that kind of person. The kind you'd invite over for dinner, take out for cocktails, blog with and exchange witty banter over glasses of wine or fruity drinks with umbrellas. Up until a few years ago, the writing/reading world didn't know of her. She was, like me, just an aspiring author with a full plate of other activities to boot.

But now she's a well-recognized published author, and to me, a bit of a celebrity. And I craved that book.

So thanks, Patricia, for the great gift, and the kind card, and letting me into your world. Next time, the autographed copy is on me!