Dear Daylight Savings Time,
While it pains me to say this, I must tell you that we can no longer be friends. You wooed me with an extra hour of sleep one night last fall. Your generosity made me fall head over heels, as I tucked into bed for another hour. I just knew that you understood me and my need for sleep, and I thought we could be BFFs.

And then this weekend, you rudely and cruelly stole that hour back? Why would you do such a thing? Don’t you understand that I needed that hour, and I’d like another 2 or 3 over the next month?

Next fall you’ll probably try to make up with me and give me another hour, but I’m onto you. Oh, I’ll be tempted to accept your offer of renewed friendship, but I won’t be fooled again!

All I have to say is FRIENDS OFF!!!

That is all,
LJ

March 26th. Anyone? Anyone?

How do you deal with rejection?

I’ve recently been rejected. And not even by a boy. (That would imply that there had been a boy in my life to reject me. But I’m not bitter. 🙂 But I digress …)

Rejection is part of every author’s life, and after 2 recent rejections by publishers, I guess I’m really part of the writing club. But it doesn’t make it any easier to have a publisher say (and I’m paraphrasing here), “Lovely story, but we don’t like you, so we’re not going to offer you any money for your book. In fact, even if you paid us, we wouldn’t publish your manuscript, giving it covers and offering it to bookstores everywhere so people coule acutally read it. We think if we did that, buyers would be more likely to line their cat litter boxes with the pages than read it.”

I may have exagerated slightly here, but you get the picture.

So quite recently I’ve received news that 2 major publishers have rejected 2 different proposals, submitted by my agent on my behalf. This rejection isn’t unlike being rejected by a cute boy you’d like to date or not getting the job that you’ve dreamed of.

So how do you deal with rejection?

Seriously. I need your input.

So, I got some big news today. I mean HUGE news. And it was good GREAT news too. So why did I immediately jump to the hyperventilating/completely stressed out portion of the program?

Why is it that when I get big news my first thought is, can I really handle this? What if I fail? What if I [fill in the blank here]?

So this afternoon, amidst my frantic hunt for a paper bag to breathe into, I get a message from my good and very wise friend Katie. It says, “If you want God to not bless you so much … that’s lame.”

It is lame. Thank you Katie for reminding me that my first response should always be thankfulness for God’s amazing blessings. I continue to be floored by His goodness in my life. I don’t deserve any of this, and God’s grace is so incredible! So from here on out, I plan to be thankful first. Freak out later. 🙂

Oh, and that news? Just a little call from my agent saying that my publisher has offered a contract on my next book.

And me? I still have to write the whole thing. By July.

Thankful first. Freak out later.

Will someone please explain to me why two pairs of jeans, identical in brand, cut, and size can be so different in length? I purchased a pair of dark wash jeans at Kohl’s recently. I loved them. Very comfy. And with the new policy at my place of employment allowing employees to wear jeans every day, I decided to pick up a second pair of the same jeans. (If you’re a guy and don’t understand this, sorry.)

But for some reason, even after washing said second pair of jeans, I didn’t bother to pull them out of my closet. Until last week.

At which point, I realized that my second pair of jeans is a solid three inches longer than the first pair of jeans. I didn’t realize how short my first pair was until I tried on the second. Oh, the delusion!

Am I the only one with these jean troubles?

Did you watch the Oscars this last weekend? It probably won’t surprise you that I did. I got together with Jess and Jess to watch the biggest award show of the season. And based on previous posts, I’m betting you won’t be surprised by which movie I was rooting for.

Umm … yeah. It was The Hurt Locker. *insert cheesy grin here* It had nothing  just a little bit quite a bit to do with Jeremy Renner’s performance. He was just amazing as a solider who has become addicted to the adrenaline of war.

Of course, the big competion was Avatar, which I feel I should disclose that I haven’t seen. Honestly, I’m not sure I want to see it, but that’s beside the point.

That probably makes you wonder what my point is … okay, okay. I’m getting there. Just very slowly.

Recently a friend of mine commented to me her disappointment that The Hurt Locker beat Avatar out for Best Picture this year. A bit surprised, I wondered what brought that on. She said that clearly Avatar–being the bestselling movie of all time–is the most popular movie, which means it must be the best film.

*scratching my head* Really? Is that the test by which we decide quality now?

Popular = Exceptional

Umm … May I raise my hand and file a small rather large complaint with that logic?

Now I’m not saying that there aren’t some wildly popular things that are well made, quality entertainment. Case in point, my novel The Kidnapping of Kenzie Thorn. Just kidding! Okay, in all seriousness, I’d like to offer the Harry Potter series for consideration. Wildly popular? Yes. Brilliantly written, plotted, and filled with creative characters? Yes. But I think this might be the exception, rather than the rule. While I’d like to give some examples of popular media with … shall we say, less than stellar quality, I’m certain to offend fans of said popular series. So I’ll refrain.

But let me just say, although The Hurt Locker hasn’t been seen by as many people as Avatar and it will probably never make as much money, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t worthy to win the award.

Confession: I’ve been a faithful watcher of The Bachelor and Bachelorette over the past years. I’ve only missed a couple seasons, but I’ve been really stuck on it over the last several seasons because the producers at ABC are very sneaky. Instead of selecting new Bachelors and Bachelorettes from outside the world Bachelor world, producers keep selecting previously rejected guys and gals.

So what happens is that the viewers get emotionally invested in certain cast members, so when they return for later seasons, we feel compelled to watch their stories.

Now I’m not claiming that The Bachelor is any sort of high-class, mentally-stimulating television, but it certainly is an interesting look at the desire to be in love and just how far people will go for 15 minutes of fame. And, of course, with each new episode comes “the most dramatic rose ceremony, EVER!” What’s not to love about that?

My friends and roommates are also big fans of the show, so up until the most recent season, we spent a couple hours every Monday night trying to figure out which of the 25 Bachelorettes our Bachelor will select.

But this season I decided to take myself out of that usual rhythm. Even though I watched Jillian dismiss Jake last season, I chose not to get invested in Jake’s search for the woman of his dreams. Not that I don’t like Jake–in fact I find him one of the best choices for Bachelor in many seasons. I just realized that I was spending 2 hours every week watching a show that would just suck me in for another 2 hours every week next season and the next and the next.

Now that Jake’s season is almost over, I can look back on the last several weeks grateful for the hours I’ve saved. I don’t really feel like I’ve missed out on anything, even though Amy and Katie and Steph area still watching it. I hear things every now and then, but it’s a really freeing feeling not being caught up in a story that experience tells us will likely end badly for Jake and his chosen.

I highly recommend giving up something you don’t need and freeing up some time for something you should do. In my case something like … writing. 🙂