Thursday
Feb032005
The Glamorous Life of a Writer
Thursday, February 3, 2005 at 01:24PM
...or Great Expectations
Isn’t it the truth: The higher your expectations, the greater the let-down when reality is...well, it is what it is, you know. And that’s cool.
There are truly not many moments in life that meet up to our typically outrageous expectations--and I’m not talking about s-e-x, ya’ll. (That’s a whole ‘nother article!) No, I’m talking about events in our lives--days when we think everything will change; that our entire life will be different, at the end of the day, from what it was when we woke up that morning. If we believe what we see in movies and TV, it happens all the time. Ah, those Movie Moments...
[Cue the swirly music of a dream sequence]
I went to New York last week--the glittery, fabulous island of Manhattan. I was fortunate to sandwich three quick days in-between the Great Blizzard of The Century in the Northeast, and the Ice Storm of The Decade in the Southeast.
Why would anyone plan a trip to New York in January? Well, my mission was to speak at a national publicity summit; to media, industry experts, and authors from all over the U.S. and Canada, which was exciting! It was an all-expense-paid opportunity to visit New York, see and be seen, meet with my literary agent, and shop the proposal for the next Rebel Housewife project to NY publishers--all very exciting. Dare I say glamorous?
Movie Moment #1: Wardrobe
While I would have hoped to WOW New York from start to finish with my incredibly trendy, fabulous wardrobe and all-pulled-together look, i.e. “She’s a housewife from Atlanta? She looks like one of the ‘Sex in the City’ girls!”
In reality, I dressed for the weather--COLD!--layer upon layer upon layer. Shopping for cold weather in HOT-Lanta is an exercise in futility, but I did manage to find the very last warm hat--on clearance!--at the mall: a warm Russian-type faux fur hat--zebra-striped! Hmmm... The only pair of warm boots I could find were those awful Ugg-type suede moon boots--pastel pink. I was warm--very warm--but with all those layers, I felt nothing like ‘Sex in the City’--more like a polar bear in big, pink, ugly boots--with a zebra carcass perched on my head.
Movie Moment #2: Arrival
Fanfare? Celebration? Personal attention? Perhaps one of those handsome hotties in a hat, holding a sign with MY NAME ON IT, waiting to whisk me away in a limo, with a personal tour of The Big Apple on the way to my luxury accommodations at one of the finest hotels in Manhattan...
No. There was no one waiting for me off the plane in New York. I fended off the ‘gypsy’ cab drivers (they meet you right out of the baggage claim and try to convince you to take a ‘private’ taxi--usually a beat-up old Lincoln Town Car with no meter or taxicab license--scary!). I scurried to the yellow cab stand, where the cars are still beat up and kind of scary, but at least they are ‘real’ taxis. And to their credit, the guy at the cab stand was very nice as he pushed me into the back of a cab as it rolled to a slow down in front of the queue. I made it to the hotel, struggled up six flights (carrying my own luggage) and opened the door to one of the smallest little rooms I’ve ever seen...cozy...
Movie Moment #3: Departure
The world did not stop and take notice when I arrived in New York. Okay. But I had scheduled a late return flight to allow for wining and dining and fuss on the third day. I was optimistic to sell the book proposal and get a fat check right then and there! Phenomenal success, instant celebrity, and a Big Fuss--places to go, people to see! My limo hottie would have rushed me to the Today Show studios for an interview with Katie Kouric, and then on to The View...We would have been hard-pressed to make my 8pm departure.
Alas, I was all dressed up (out of the polar bear suit--I did look quite trendy and hip!), with nowhere to go. I met with my agent, we met with an editor from a large NY publishing house, and it all went very well...
You know, we get so wrapped up in Great Expectations and Movie Moments, sometimes that takes away from the really fantastic stuff that is actually happening! The book didn’t sell in a day (no surprise there), but we could have great news in a couple of weeks...
So all dressed up, with nowhere to go, and pending another arctic blast in the Northeast, I high-tailed it home early.
I arrived home to chaos and my poor husband ready to run away (with good reason); my son’s 10th birthday, and the Ice Storm of 2005, which shut the south down over the weekend...
Everybody is glad Mom is back...except maybe Mom?
The Glamorous Life, indeed--
Isn’t it the truth: The higher your expectations, the greater the let-down when reality is...well, it is what it is, you know. And that’s cool.
There are truly not many moments in life that meet up to our typically outrageous expectations--and I’m not talking about s-e-x, ya’ll. (That’s a whole ‘nother article!) No, I’m talking about events in our lives--days when we think everything will change; that our entire life will be different, at the end of the day, from what it was when we woke up that morning. If we believe what we see in movies and TV, it happens all the time. Ah, those Movie Moments...
[Cue the swirly music of a dream sequence]
I went to New York last week--the glittery, fabulous island of Manhattan. I was fortunate to sandwich three quick days in-between the Great Blizzard of The Century in the Northeast, and the Ice Storm of The Decade in the Southeast.
Why would anyone plan a trip to New York in January? Well, my mission was to speak at a national publicity summit; to media, industry experts, and authors from all over the U.S. and Canada, which was exciting! It was an all-expense-paid opportunity to visit New York, see and be seen, meet with my literary agent, and shop the proposal for the next Rebel Housewife project to NY publishers--all very exciting. Dare I say glamorous?
Movie Moment #1: Wardrobe
While I would have hoped to WOW New York from start to finish with my incredibly trendy, fabulous wardrobe and all-pulled-together look, i.e. “She’s a housewife from Atlanta? She looks like one of the ‘Sex in the City’ girls!”
In reality, I dressed for the weather--COLD!--layer upon layer upon layer. Shopping for cold weather in HOT-Lanta is an exercise in futility, but I did manage to find the very last warm hat--on clearance!--at the mall: a warm Russian-type faux fur hat--zebra-striped! Hmmm... The only pair of warm boots I could find were those awful Ugg-type suede moon boots--pastel pink. I was warm--very warm--but with all those layers, I felt nothing like ‘Sex in the City’--more like a polar bear in big, pink, ugly boots--with a zebra carcass perched on my head.
Movie Moment #2: Arrival
Fanfare? Celebration? Personal attention? Perhaps one of those handsome hotties in a hat, holding a sign with MY NAME ON IT, waiting to whisk me away in a limo, with a personal tour of The Big Apple on the way to my luxury accommodations at one of the finest hotels in Manhattan...
No. There was no one waiting for me off the plane in New York. I fended off the ‘gypsy’ cab drivers (they meet you right out of the baggage claim and try to convince you to take a ‘private’ taxi--usually a beat-up old Lincoln Town Car with no meter or taxicab license--scary!). I scurried to the yellow cab stand, where the cars are still beat up and kind of scary, but at least they are ‘real’ taxis. And to their credit, the guy at the cab stand was very nice as he pushed me into the back of a cab as it rolled to a slow down in front of the queue. I made it to the hotel, struggled up six flights (carrying my own luggage) and opened the door to one of the smallest little rooms I’ve ever seen...cozy...
Movie Moment #3: Departure
The world did not stop and take notice when I arrived in New York. Okay. But I had scheduled a late return flight to allow for wining and dining and fuss on the third day. I was optimistic to sell the book proposal and get a fat check right then and there! Phenomenal success, instant celebrity, and a Big Fuss--places to go, people to see! My limo hottie would have rushed me to the Today Show studios for an interview with Katie Kouric, and then on to The View...We would have been hard-pressed to make my 8pm departure.
Alas, I was all dressed up (out of the polar bear suit--I did look quite trendy and hip!), with nowhere to go. I met with my agent, we met with an editor from a large NY publishing house, and it all went very well...
You know, we get so wrapped up in Great Expectations and Movie Moments, sometimes that takes away from the really fantastic stuff that is actually happening! The book didn’t sell in a day (no surprise there), but we could have great news in a couple of weeks...
So all dressed up, with nowhere to go, and pending another arctic blast in the Northeast, I high-tailed it home early.
I arrived home to chaos and my poor husband ready to run away (with good reason); my son’s 10th birthday, and the Ice Storm of 2005, which shut the south down over the weekend...
Everybody is glad Mom is back...except maybe Mom?
The Glamorous Life, indeed--