I was trying to figure out what to blog about today. Do I want to talk about the new Pope? Since I'm not Catholic, I'm Episcopalian, the election of a new Pope means nothing to me apart from curiosity. Who is this guy it took 2 days to elect? There were rumors after Pope John Paul II died, that the college of cardinals might elect a Black Pope, a Spanish Pope or even a converted from Judiasim Pope. Instead they elected a 78(?) year-old Conservative, former Nazi Youth party member who decries homosexuality, feminism, and liberalism.
The theory is that this guy is an interim Pope. At 78, he's 6 years younger than Pope John Paul II was before he died. Unless he's in great health, I doubt he's going to be Pope for more than a few years. I'm not sure why they elected this guy, but I'm sure there are theories.
Then I thought about blogging about the WIR (work in revisions) Nearly Famous. Right now, I'm 132 pages into the revisions, and I'm not sure what's going on. I do know that I need something else in the first 3 chapters, otherwise, it's a little dreary. I realized that my main character has the same conversation with her sister and her best friend. Yikes!
The other problem is that every chick-lit book I read, I worry that my book is too similar. That it doesn't stand out enough. I just read a really good first novel by Jane Mendle called Kissing in Technicolor. What I enjoyed about it, apart from the fact that it was set in a New York I recognized, but the protagonist didn't work in publishing. She was a graduate film student at Columbia in her final year.
Now I worry that because I have an actor on a soap that my main character gets involved with, that it's too similar to hers. It's not really, but this is where my mind is going right now.
So it's back to reading non-fiction before I drive myself crazy. I'm currently reading Front Row, by Jerry Oppenheimer, author of Just Desserts about Martha Stewart. Front Row is about the most famous and hated editor of American Vogue, Anna Wintour.
Now on to the main topic. Contests or Sweepstakes. I know that entering these contests is about as realistic as playing Lotto (which I rarely do because you have to spend money), but there's something comforting about filling out the entry form on line, hoping that you'll be chosen to win that particular prize.
In my case, I actually won something from Time Out. Dinner at Eleven Madison Park and two tickets to see Return to Moscow. Once you've won something, that gives you more incentive to enter. I mainly enter the Time Out competitions, US Magazine's weekly contests, and anything that has to do with traveling. I still have my fingers crossed for the Fine Living trip to Tuscany.
I've bookmarked IWon.com and play it everyday trying to be the one who wins the daily $10,000. Someone may see it as a waste of time. She should be working on her book, plotting another one, querying agents, paying bills, actually paying attention to her job.
Well, entering contests, keeps me sane believe or not. It's just that one little thing that I do for myself when the drudgery of my temp job gets to me. When just the thought of paying bills makes me long for a glass of wine. When I get another rejection letter in the mail.
Call me madcap or delusional or whatever you want. I'm not hurting anyone, least of all myself. I know that winning one of these is a crapshoot. But hey getting an agent or a publishing contract at this moment, seems just as much of a crapshoot to me, but I keep on trying.
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