Thursday, February 23, 2006

A Dream Come True

Last night, I had this dream. I don't remember a lot about the dream, actually. But then I woke up, and found myself at Barnes and Noble or Border's...I don't remember which, as both are pretty much the same (except for the fact that I'm still mad at Barnes and Noble for selling my contact information without my permission to a third party because they decided to have an "opt-out" policy instead of an "opt-in" policy, which I find utterly unforgiveable these days).

Anyhow, I was there setting up a table for my first-ever book signing. As you can imagine, I was very excited. I've been working on Mindburst for years, and to finally see it in print and do a book-signing! This was exciting stuff.

So, I'm sitting there, and an employee comes up to me and asks me what I'm doing.

"I have a book-signing today."

The employee looks at me funny, then says, "Okay, but you'll have to go get your own books off the shelves."

No problem. I meander back to the Children's and Young Adult section and search the shelves for my book. But there isn't a single copy to be found. And when I head back up to the front of the store, someone else is sitting at my table.

Then, I realized my book hasn't yet been published. My dream had been so utterly real, that when I woke up I thought I really did have a published book! But now I looked to be a complete fool, sitting in a bookstore claiming I'm doing a book-signing for a book that hasn't been published. I quickly packed up my stuff and snuck out the door. It was a moment of utter embarrassment.

But, then I woke up. Again. In my bed, this time. And I was so relieved to find out that I had experienced one of those dream within a dream dreams. But, it was bittersweet...because I truly had believed my book was published. In my dream, that is. And that feeling was a very warming moment.

As an update, I am, in fact, seeking agent representation still for my book. It is a long process, and I've had limited success. I have had three requests for partials (which is the first three chapters). But then silence has ensued since then, and I keeping checking my e-mail so often that I wonder if my internet provider might think I'm launching one of those denial of service attacks or something. No...just me, hoping for a request for a full to arrive. But it hasn't. Yet again.

Anyhow, the wait continues, but I promise to keep my faithful compadres (psst...wake up...that means you!) notified of any significant events. In the meantime, in case you missed it from a few days ago, I have February's Story of the Month, A Time to Die, posted on my website. Take a gander if you haven't already.