Past And Presents

A few days ago, I did something I hadn't done in a very long time.

I googled myself.

It's a tribute to how long it's been since I so indulged, that the most interesting place I found myself plopped into was an article from a year ago about a teacher winning a $1000.00 prize. If that very fine teacher had been holding a copy of any book other than Life As We Knew It, it truly would have been a dull day in Googleland.

I might have been inspired to self-goog because Twitter led me to a Huffington Post article that  mentioned Life As We Knew It. It's an article about YA science fiction books to make you interested in science. Here's the very nice thing it said about LAWKI:

Be fascinated by eco-disasters. Then be scared of them. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. The moon is knocked a little too close to the earth one day. The disastrous effect on the weather and society, and then the diseases that end up ravaging the pockets of society are so real and scientifically valid, your cells will shiver from fear.

Isn't that lovely? I would have sent the link to my editor except for a couple of things. First off, it's the week between Christmas and New Year's, and what with both of them falling on Wednesdays, we can safely assume the entire publishing industry is in hiding from Dec. 21 to Jan. 6. So it would be almost disrespectful of me to make someone look at anything work related during that time.

The second reason is wonderful though the mention is, here's the book cover they used to accompany it:

Don't get me wrong. It's a fine cover. And I should be grateful they didn't use the pink one. But still, it's the U.K. cover, and my American publisher would probably prefer if they'd used the U.S. one. So I'm not going to tell them.

I stopped exchanging holiday gifts a number of years ago, pre-LAWKI, when I moved from my big expensive house to my lovely but much smaller apartment. The only person I give presents to and receive from is my goddaughter. Among the gifts she sent me this Christmas were two of her cheeses. The Prix de Diane is already gone, but if you get here quickly enough, there might be a little bit left of the Morgan for you to enjoy.

She also sent me a handknit neckwarming thing (there's probably a technical term for it, but I'm not au courant fashion wise or most any other wise for that matter). Anyway, whatever you call it, it's very pretty and I'm sure it will keep my neck warm over the next couple of months.

That is, assuming Scooter will let me wear it. My goddaughter gave me strict instructions that her presents were not to be regarded as cat toys, but no one seems to have told Scooter that.

 

 

And for any of you cynical enough to think I wrote this entire blog entry to have an excuse to post that second picture, well, you just might be right!