Golly

I have printed out two copies of my novel's rough draft. One is going to L., one of my first round readers. The other is going to my mom — I'm going to get it bound and send it to her for her birthday, which is Friday.

Yes, I am a little nervous about sending this baby out where other people can see it; however, if I don't do it now I may never do it. 2010 is going to be all about putting myself out there, whether it's taking a class that requires a TON of public speaking, trying at last to become a real live author, or singing karaoke in public (I can't promise that I'll do this last one, but we'll see).

I also am here to sing the praises of solid perfume. Wowee do I love that stuff. I feel like I'm actually getting my money's worth, instead of just spraying the good-smelling stuff into a vague cloud around my head and hoping that it sticks. Other benefits are that a solid perfume stick takes up a lot less room than a perfume bottle and is more airline travel friendly.

In other news, I saw Avatar in 3-D, and it was pretty cool. I have to say that I went in with low expectations, which didn't hurt, but I am very glad that (a) Zoe Saldana's career is finally taking off, because I actually really like her a lot, and (b) the score was as great as it was. However, I think that James Cameron is probably not the nicest guy in Hollywood (I don't know him personally so I can't say for sure, I'm just going off reports) and I DO wish that female directors such as Katherine Bigelow would be getting more credit for movies made on budgets far less blockbuster-friendly. If I ever become a bazillionaire, I am going to form a media company (music, film, books) focused on nurturing and marketing female-helmed projects that actually contribute substance and quality to the massive glut of entertainment that's out there — sort of a Lilith Fair for women in the arts. This is the pipiest of pipe dreams, but there it is.

Finally, I am here to announce that L. makes some very good chicken-fried steak. Her gravy was a little...different...but in her defense, she had to improvise and what turned out wasn't nearly as bad as it might have been! Bottom line, if you want to experience an instant arterial blockage, see her for dinner. She'll set you up.