It's Friday; It's a Good Thing plus writing stuff

Thursday morning I received an email from my editor saying this: expect notes on the first three chapters in a day or two. I didn't totally freak, but I mentally began writing a blog post in which I balanced the extreme excitement I felt for finally getting this baby off the ground and the extreme fear of what those notes might contain.

Turns out, before I could even write the post, she sends me the notes, so complimentary and full of glowiness that I couldn't put up even the least fight over comma changes (which, if you ask my husband - and please don't! - I have a problem with commas, and with thinking I am right and he is wrong about commas, which has led to the unsavory yet somewhat funny nickname "The Comma Nazi". And there will now be no living down the fact that the major changes I must make involve adding commas).

So I breathe a huge sigh of relief and think: I can do this.

In other writery news, I took my kids to the library today to return a book that was overdue by 12 hours, and casually leaned against the information booth and asked the librarian (after several false starts, heavy breathing, elevated blood pressure and undue anxiety over looking too self-absorbed): "Do you do book signings or readings, or events with authors? Because, um, you know, um, I wrote a book that's going to be published this winter. You know, not by me. By a publisher."

Could I be any lamer?

And I realized if I'm going to make it as a writer, I'm going to have to get a whole lot more impressive in my ability to sell myself than that. And for the briefest of seconds, I considered becoming a lunch lady at the kids' school.

But hey - today is Friday and Friday is not the day to stew about what a self-promoter I am not, so here we go. It's Friday, and these are the things I'm thankful for this week:

1. My husband traveled to Dallas this week and went to dinner at my favorite restaurant in Texas. He called me while he was eating my favorite dinner, which I haven't tasted in eleven years, and I literally drooled on the phone. He packaged up the chips and salsa and brought it home on the plane for me. He managed to get it through security (even though it was far more than 3 ounces), balance the take-out container so that none of the salsa spilled, and call from the airport to make sure I'd be up to eat it when he got home at midnight. Can I say how amazing he is?

2. The salsa ended up not being nearly as good as I remembered it. Why is this a good thing? Because I may not eat it again for another 11 years. And now I'm okay with that! :)

3. The weather is cooling off just the time the kids are due to go back to school. Last week I was almost in tears that the summer was nearly over. I wanted sand. I wanted sun. I wanted palm trees and pools and cook-outs and iced-teas. Today I want a long-sleeved shirt. And I'm almost ready for the trees to change and the air to smell of burning leaves and pumpkins to grace the porch. I'm in love with seasons, when everything is new again, every four months.

There are so many more things this week, but this is already long, and it's a holiday weekend for us here, and the husband is home and editor letter waiting, and no doubt YOU have things to do as well.

So happy Friday, happy weekend, happy beginning of fall.

I'll see you back here next week!