It Beats A Kick In The Crotch

March 24, 2010

Last night in karate I was working with Olivia, who is about, oh, 3-1/2 feet tall, and probably in the 4th grade. The exercise was to move the other person across the floor without muscling it. Obviously, she couldn't muscle me if her life depended on it. She promptly kneed me in the crotch. Then did it again. As she told her mother later, "I saw the opportunity and I took it." She's going to go far (and I fear for anybody she might date).

I think I could go two ways here, about taking opportunities when you see them, or, going back to what I was originally going to write about, which, well, hey, I've got a novel coming out, I've published several other novels, I'm writing a nonfiction book I'm contracted for, I'm otherwise making a pretty decent living as a writer.

My wife and I were discussing my book signing schedule and I commented that one reason I had a better attitude about the book promotion stuff is simply that, having been a published novelist, then not being a published novelist, then getting books published again, all in all, I prefer having my novels published to not being published. Many of the business and promotional aspects of being a novelist are a pain in the tush, but...

As I say, it beats a kick in the crotch.