343rd Friday Blog Roundup

Thank you for all of the birthday wishes.  My Chekhovian mood stretched through the whole week.  Josh asked if I wanted to go see a production of Uncle Vanya and I just stared at him for a long time until I finally said, “do you think that’s a good idea?”  And he had to admit that it probably wasn’t.

I am still feeling Prufrock-y, still wearing my trousers rolled, but I did spend an hour trying out electric guitars.  And then, in true form, walked out of the store without my birthday present and told the man that I needed to sleep on it.  I will most likely go back and buy it tonight — a simple, blue Fender Squier.  Nothing fancy, but a first electric guitar probably shouldn’t have too many bells and whistles.

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But the best birthday gift came from Amazon.  On Thursday I learned that Life from Scratch had been chosen for their sunshine deals program.  They picked 600 books that were already bestsellers or had won awards, temporarily dropped the price, and are featuring them for two weeks to kick off summer reading.

It’s a fairly eclectic list: Sophie’s Choice, Slaughterhouse Five, and… Life from Scratch.  There’s Chelsea Handler and short stories by Andre Dubus and the writings of Martin Luther King Jr.  See — eclectic.

By Thursday night, it was down to #316 on the Paid Kindle list.  Which is awesome.  I mean, it’s very cool to think of new people reading my book, but it also was an injection of energy into writing the sequel.  Stuff was just quietly going on with the first book and I was just quietly writing the second book, and this was like a huge yelp in the middle of a sea of words that woke me up, made me sit up straighter, and actually smile through my Chekhovian mood as I typed.

So.

Life from Scratch is down to $2.99 on Kindle for the next two weeks for this promotion.  It’s the perfect time (hint, hint) to get a copy if you don’t already have one (I don’t personally have a Kindle, but you can read Kindle books on the computer, the iPad, and the blackberry, etc).

And I’m telling you this because I’m going to beg you — as a birthday present to me? — to spread word.  Tell friends and family that this would be a great beach read, some good summer fun.  That it’s the perfect time to get it — it will never be this low in price.  It’s less than a frappuccino!  Tweet it, Facebook it, blog about it.  Pretty please?

My goal, since everyone should have a goal, is to get to #1 on the Kindle List.  Will you help me do that?

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And speaking of birthday fun… the winners of the giveaway (and seriously, I can’t believe 257 entries for a box of baked goods and only 28 for the best games I’ve ever played?):

1. Rush Hour (winner: JustHeather)
2. What’s Gnu (winner: Kristin)
3. Rush Hour iPhone/iPad app (winner: Magpie)
4. Solitaire Chess iPhone/iPad app (winner: Baby Smiling in Back Seat)

Congratulations!

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And now the blogs…

But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week.  In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “What the Heck is Wrong with Me…” [Part One] and “What the Heck is Wrong with Me…” [Part Two] (Too Many Fish to Fry)
• “Little Warrior” (Three Times the Fun)
• “To Taryn, at Graduation” (Mrs. Spit… Still Spouting Off)
• “Mice and Cheese” (Mrs. Spit… Still Spouting Off)
• “Right Where I Am Project” (Still Life with Circles)
• “Rape is Not an Appliance” (Oh, Noa)
• “Forgiveness” (Expired Eggs… ?)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Kate, Uncensored has a wistful little post about wishing for a wedding.  On one hand, she doesn’t need the ceremony, the paper or the ring.  But on the other, it’s this little thing that is missing.  It made me think about all the things we can talk ourselves into living without, but how they always are like a little sigh in the back of our heart.

The Port of Indecision has a post about perspective.  She juxtaposes her experience with recurrent loss with her friend’s reaction to her own miscarriage.  At first the comparison makes her feel badly, but she comes to realize how her perspective has changed with each loss.  She explains: “And how by the fifth time I was simply resigned to the reality that this was the only thing that could possibly happen. And how it’s gone from, ‘Why not me?’ to, ‘Why me, again?’ It’s all a matter of perspective.”

Grit and Patience has a post about donor eggs and the cuckoo bird.  I love this passage: “I’d love whatever kid I had, of course.  I guess it’s just a visceral illustration of that baby or child being foreign, different, not OF ME, us not “fitting”. My reaction to the cuckoo image isn’t as strong now as it used to be.  Maybe it’s the passage of time, maybe it’s the Zoloft.  Who knows?”  But you’re going to want to read the whole post for this line: “It’s the love that makes you ‘fit,’ not the genes.”

Lastly, Write Mind Open Heart has a post about summer, specifically, summer vacations as a kid.  You will mentally go back in time.  Our neighbourhood wasn’t big on fort building, but we played all house hide-and-go-seek (meaning, you could be outside or in any of the houses on our street with only one tree designated as the “safe” zone).  We biked and explored.  We went to day camp for six weeks.  Go tell her what you did.

The roundup to the Roundup: I survived my birthday.  Please help me make Life from Scratch #1 on the Kindle list.  Winners from the giveaway.  And lots of great blog posts to read.  So what did you find this week?  Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between May 27 and June 3) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week?  Read the original open thread post here.