what a difference a day makes

okay, so it would be a slight understatement if i said i was feeling a little surly yesterday... so i won't say it. it's weird. i read the entry back to myself and nearly deleted it (ungrateful girl! how dare you carry on like this!), but then i thought, no. it's not about being logical all the time. and it's not ne trying to offend anyone. it's just the way i feel, and i really can't help that. so don't judge me too harshly, and i'll try to do the same for anyone who asks me how the book's going. deal? deal!

anyway. i had a coffee after work with a fellow writer friend of mine, and after catching up on all that's happened in our personal lives since the last time we saw each other, she shared with me some gems about that scary, scaaary thing - self-promotion. it's something i used to think i just couldn't do. but between coffee yesterday afternoon and all day so far working at the computer today, i realise one thing; if i don't promote the book, who will? i will have to get over my own insecurities and do something. more on that later.

anyway, after starting the day on such a negative yesterday, which way do you think the rest of the day went? as i walked round the corner into my street, i saw that someone had left our recycling bin right out the front of the house, blocking the front gate. i started muttering from a distance - since we live in an old shopfront and people love mucking with our wheelie bins - and dragged it out of the way before unlocking the gate. when i went to unlock the door, i noticed it; a small package wedged between the gate and the door. so the postie had dragged the bin and put it there to hide the package from passers-by! he would have had to have gotten off his bike to do that. my mood lifted - thank you, mister postie! - and i went inside, put my bag down and ripped the package open. surprise! it was from penguin sydney, and it was an advance copy of girl's night in 4. i can't show you the cover or anything because it's not officially out yet, but i can tell you that my story in it is called 'not really a party girl' and has never been published anywhere else. and i can also tell you that my name is in curly writing on the back cover of the book, third from the top. which menas my story is the third story in an anthology roughly the size of a housebrick. it's times like these you're thankful that when your grandfather made up your surname, he chose one that started with 'a'.

i should also let you know one last thing - all proceeds from the sale of the girls night in 4 anthology go to war child and no strings. so when you see it on shelves in october, do yourself and a whole heap of other people a favour, and buy a copy or three.