Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Christmas in July

This week I received confirmation from a publisher that two of my memoirs/essays have been accepted for publication in an upcoming Christmas anthology that will be published in 2009. Better yet, I'm actually getting paid for these, so I can now buy another cup of coffee before I send the rest of the cash away to Ball State and Uncle Sam.

What's interesting about writing these essays is that I whipped them out a couple of weeks ago in the heat of July--a frenzy of writing over a four hour late-night escapade where I produced four essays and a total of 5000 words. Not a bad pace. Kind of tough writing about Christmas in July, but I guess I impressed the editor enough to get the acceptances.

Both of these pieces were memoirs--one about the Radio Flyer (the little red wagon) that we gave to Chelsey for her third Christmas (back in the B.L days "Before Logan"). Another is about a woman I know who has an angel tree in her living room year round.

But writing about Christmas has also tweaked my thinking: What am I going to get my wife this year? She's always chastising me for waiting until the last minute to shop for her. So, here's my plan. I'm going to keep an eye out now. And the next time I see a new set of soup bowls or a coffee-maker or some cooking utensils on sale, I'm taking the plunge. Women do like practical gifts, don't they?

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