Wednesday, May 03, 2006

It Takes So Little

There is a book by Florence Littauer titled It Takes So Little To Be Above Average. I have a new take. It takes so little of anything to do something.

Having an average day? Drive on the highway and wait for a guy to cut you off. Not having an average day anymore are you?

Having a below average day? I had one today. Migraine. No Pepsi. Excedrin Migraine wasn't working. I actually held it together pretty well. Whispered to my kids to whisper. Stayed out of sunlight. Didn't lose my temper. Then WHAMO. I did a really stupid thing. I congratulated a friend on a 400+ person writer's email loop on a contest entry that finaled by title. Titles are supposed to remain a mystery. Judges may have read the email. I feel like I blew it for her. I feel like a heel. I sat paralyzed, staring at the screen, blank, where the message that I'd just hit send should have been. And then all three kids began talking. Not fighting. Not demanding. Asking. Rather quietly. I blew up. THAT'S IT! THAT'S IT! GO TO YOUR ROOMS! AND STAY THERE! I WARNED YOU MOMMY WAS TIRED AND YOU JUST HAD TO KEEP PUSHING DIDN'T YOU? And then I burst into tears. A sobbing mess on the floor. The camel's back snapped.

Oddly, no one even gave me a "why?" They dutifully marched to their rooms and entertained themselves on their beds for a few minutes while I pulled myself together. Sent my apology. In duplicate. Gave my apologies in triplicate, then took them to the library where we had some quiet time.

And on my return? I have an email from Andrea at Armchair. Apparently an author has sent me a copy of her book to review, did I know anything about it? No clue. But the author's name sounded familiar(Thank you Jim Trelease for teaching me to read author names) and on a hunch I looked it up on Amazon. I'd reviewed a different book of her's recently. And she wanted me to have another go on another book. Now, maybe she just wanted a reviewer that she knew wasn't hostile to ABC books, especially ones out of the norm. Maybe she figured someone who'd reviewed her before was a better bet than someone new.

But it takes so little. I am so excited that I was singled out by an author to do a review I am positively giddy. When I read the five love languages, I wouldn't have estimated how very near the top words of affirmation is, but d-ANG.

So if I have any authors lurking out there and you want me to feel important, you know where to send the books.

2 comments:

Jeana said...

Hey, be careful what you ask for. I offered to do a review once. What I was thinking: Free Book!

What I was not thinking: What if I hate it?

And it's one thing to BBQ a book when a third party asked you to review it. It's another when it's a fellow blogger and she seems really nice and you don't want to hurt her feelings. That was a slippery slope.

Oh, and thanks for stopping by my place!

Chaos-Jamie said...

How true!

But, thankfully, I dont know this one.

Those free books have a lot of appeal, don't they?