It's not that I'm unpatriotic or whatever, but Independence Day has never been my favorite. Acutally, the month of July has traditionally brought more bad news than any other month, so I tend to be a little leary of the 4th. Anyway, other than when I was little and my family used to go to our small town's annual picnic/cookout/fireworks thing, I recall only one really good 4th. A few years ago Andrew and I went over to the Walt Disney World. As is very common, the parks were all "sold out" for that day, which means you can't buy a park ticket at a window. Fortunately, we had annual passes. So we went to the Magic Kingdom for the breathtaking fireworks show. I'm not that into fireworks, but seeing them in 360 degrees filling the sky is really amazing.
So right now Joe and Evan are hunkered down watching LA Confidential. Evan and I have seen it before and I got called away to IM with my hubby, so I figured I'd update quickly.
Outside the neighborhood punks are going nutty with the fireworks.
Two exciting bits of news:
Schmoopie returns on Sunday. I am, of course, very excited to have him coming home.
Last night I finished my first draft of the novel. It was quite a euphoric moment. I even typed "THE END". NEAT! To pre-empt the questions I anticipate getting, no, you may not read it now. And the next step is to let it sit for several weeks, then take it out and give it a nice, extensive revision. At that point, it gets to the "door open" phase where a very small group of people I select will read and critique it. Once I get it where I like it, I'll send it out to some agents (if I don't already have one by then) and hopefully find a publisher. I imagine this will take some months to accomplish, and who knows how long to get it published (if it ever is). Still, it's quite an accomplishment to have written 185 relatively cohesive pages.
Posted by Erin at July 4, 2003 09:14 PMcongratulations erin! that is remarkable. both the book of course and making it throught the time without andrew. only two more days left!
Posted by: jane at July 4, 2003 10:24 PMWow!!! You finished your novel!!! Congratulations!!! Hurry up and get it published so I can read it!
Posted by: Rich at July 6, 2003 12:49 PMis there a waiting list?? if so, I am definitely claiming a spot! :D kudos to you erin!
Posted by: vera at July 7, 2003 09:36 AMThat town cook-out fireworks thing was actually the big annual McHargue gala next door. They went all out and it was usually BETTER than what they did at the park! With the golf course there, the cart path was the perfect place to set off fireworks.
Remember the year they had the fire on the utility pole behind the sand pile? Us kids were all worried about "saving" Wilbur, their dog, who was quite safe and not even near his house at the time. It was quite exciting! The fire department came out and they almost cancelled the party that year.
Posted by: Kim at July 7, 2003 01:23 PMCongrats! I'm excited for you!
Posted by: Kristen at July 7, 2003 08:19 PM