Oh, health care!

When I came back from vacation, I learned that as of January 1, 2010, I will lose all of my medical/dental/vision coverage.  Because, you see, the company where I've worked for the past five years has now decided to stop offering benefits for employees who work part time.

I am very unthrilled by this news.  I can't even tell you how much.  Especially since my husband works for a small business and adding me to his plan is going to be expensive.  Ridiculously so.

There were times over the past few days when I considered whether I should try to get my manager to change my half-time status to three-quarter status (and therefore increase my hours to thirty) so that I could keep my benefits.  It seemed kind of like the wrong way to go, though.  I took this job, mostly, because the benefits were great and the schedule allowed me to be a part-time employee and a part-time writer.  Now half of that incentive is gone.  If I work more, my part-time job will take over my writing time.  That's kind of... not what this part-time job was supposed to do.

I talked to my husband about it.  I talked to my agent about it.  In the end, I decided to let the benefits go.  I'll get on my husband's super-expensive plan (unless I can find a different better/cheaper option) and keep working part-time for as long as I need to.  This is not a good thing for me, but the truth is, maybe it will become a good thing.  I don't know if I ever would have been willing to give up my job while I had the insurance, even if it might have started interfering with my writing career.  Now, I'm feeling highly motivated to get more going with my writing. 

So, it's a little bit freeing, I have to say.

Zombay, zombay, zombay-ay-ay.

Two of the bands for which my husband plays drums (Alabaster and Switchblade & the Surgeon)  were involved in a Halloween show this year at The Mars Bar in Seattle.

The theme--much to my dismay--was "Zombie Massacre."  I'm so not into the macabre.

So, costumes were mandatory, and I really, really, really wanted us to be Barbie and Ken. But Dwayne felt like since he was in two of the bands and all that he should dress according to the theme.

Our compromise was to be Zombie Barbie and Zombie Ken:

    

These are our Before-We-Left-the-House and our After-Dwayne-Played-Two-Sets-and-Sweated-Off-Half-His-Makeup shots.  Can you tell which is which?

Overall, it was a pretty fun time.  I was happy with how the costumes turned out--particularly with my "B" chocker and Dwayne's awesome plastic 'do--but I do think my boobs should have been bigger.  The problem was that I just couldn't fit any more stuffing into the top of that dress.  As it was, I had mini-panic attacks for the first half of the night, which I came to realize were being caused from lack of oxygen.  (I was incapable of taking anything but shallow breaths whenever I was seated.)  I guess what I really needed was a dress with stretchy material up top.

Live and learn, eh?

DC: The Critique Partner Edition

Meet Some of My Super-Talented Writing Peeps!

So, before I left for my trip to DC, I mentioned that I was excited to get to meet some of my critique partners. 

On our first full day in DC (Sunday, October 18th), Dwayne and I had dinner with John Ford (author of THE MORGUE AND ME), Gina Montefusco, and Jeff, Gina's racecar driver/economist/PHD student boyfriend.  (I hope I got all that right!)

(Clockwise starting at 9 o'clock:  me, John, Jeff, and Gina.)

On Friday, October 23rd, Dwayne and I caught a ride with Gina from DC to Baltimore.   There, Dwayne stayed behind at the hotel to relax and swim while I went out for drinks and dinner with the writers I often refer to as "my girls."  They are Michelle Andreani, Gina Montefusco (of course), and Kim Steffen.

(From left to right:  Michelle, Gina, Kim, and me.)

Getting to meet my writer friends in person after knowing them online and having exchanged critiques for two years was such a great experience!  In a lot of ways, I felt like I already knew them, since we do end up sharing so much with each other.  But spending time together and just getting to talk and laugh and see each other was awesome.  I really do love getting to read all their work and I am so appreciative of all the support and helpful suggestions they've given me with mine. 

We're talking about making plans meet up again--maybe in the form of a retreat--in the future.  I can hardly wait!

DC: The Romance Edition.

Wuv, Twue Wuv.  (Rated PG)

(FYI:  All of these could just as easily been included in "The Dork Edition.")

Here, Dwayne and I are holding up the dog tags we had made at National Air & Space Museum.  We traded one of our own tags for the other's so we could be like Starbuck and Anders on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, of course!

On our second (or maybe third) night in town, I was like, "Hey, let's sit in front of this fountain and get a picture of us kissing!"  Dwayne was holding the camera out, pointed at us while we waited as people kept walking by.  We  felt very silly.  A woman stopped and said, "Oh!  Would you like me to take your picture?"  We were like, "Oh, no thanks. We got it covered!" Then we burst out laughing.  As you can see.

Ah, a moment of "privacy" in a public place at last!

So, one thing about Dwayne and me on vacation is that we usually get addicted to each other while we're spending every day together having the time of our lives and all.  When we get home, we go through withdrawals.  For our first days back at work, we'll call and/or text each other all the time, telling each other about how much we miss the other.

That didn't happen this trip.  It wasn't until we got home that I figured out why.  Most often on trips of more than three days or so, we stay in timeshare resorts with condo units.  That means bedroom, living room, kitchen, all that stuff.  For this trip, we stayed in hotels.  Just us with a bedroom and a bathroom.  So the only way to get away from each other during downtime was to take a bath, and that can only go on for so long, you know?

Don't worry, though.  Even though we glared at and got annoyed with each other more than we do even in our regular lives where we have an entire house and can have lots of space and time to ourselves, we still like each other a whole bunch!  And, really, it was a great trip overall.

Oh, hey!  Look at the cutie who wanted to crash in on the "love" post!

Confession! And now I know the truth...

I want to tell you all a story.  I may have spoken in person with a couple of you about this particular insecurity I've had, but I don't think I've really posted about it.  (Btw, this is a special friend filter.)

Okay, so the truth is, ever since I got my book deal, I've felt unworthy of it.  I felt like it never would have happened if not for the fact that Liesa likes me so very much. 

I know, I know.  That is totally fucking stupid.  No one would do that!  She would never risk her career like that.  But I haven't been able to get the nagging thoughts out of my mind. 

The whole thing seemed further evidenced when we got only the one offer back in May.  Now, I knew about Dan Ehrenhaft's attempts to acquire my book, but since he failed, it all seemed rather moot.  And I knew that there were other publishers who couldn't get it through acquisitions quickly enough, so we'll never know what might have happened with them.  All I've been thinking is that no one wanted the book and that Liesa did me this big favor in taking it on.

Right.  So, that whole thing got cleared up in a big hurry at Liesa's wedding reception.  Dwayne and I took our seats at our assigned table.  A woman already seated said, "Are you Mindi Scott?"

I answered in the affirmative and she introduced herself as "Liesa's assistant, Kate."

We started being all "so nice to meet you" ish and chatting.  And then she said this, (paraphrased): "Wow!  I remember when Liesa first started teaching your class.  She came into the office the day after you posted your first pages just raving about them.  She said she knew she wanted this book, but it was way too soon to approach you about it.  She needed to at least be a little bit appropriate and wait until the class was completed to talk to you about it!  I'm just so excited for her that it finally happened.  She waited a long time to get to work on that book!"

It was the strangest feeling, realizing that the way I'd been seeing the situation was so very backward and upside down. 

I had thought that Liesa really likes my book and really, really likes me. 

The truth is more like, Liesa completely loves my book and really likes me.

That isn't a bad thing.  In fact, for my feelings of worthiness as a writer, it's a wonderful thing.  Liesa wanted this book so badly that she kept checking in about my progress over the months it took for me to finish all my revisions.  She gave me agent referrals because she knew I didn't want to go straight to any publishers (and probably because she knew it would be a harder sell to the imprint if I wasn't represented).  And when I got an agent and then let her know the project was going on submissions, she asked me to have Jim send it to her and went to Pulse and convinced them to let her acquire it for their imprint.

I had no clue what it all meant.  I really, really didn't.  Even when she would say things about how she thinks I'm so talented and how much she loved the book and how she knew I was going to get it published someday, I would think, God, isn't she just the sweetest thing to say all that!  

When I met up with her in NYC, she told me she'd been bragging to the rest of her office about getting to meet me.  I thought she was just teasing.  No one would brag about something like that!

When she came to the writer's conference in Washington last year (over a year before she acquired the book), I thanked her for all her support and advice over the previous few months.  She looked me in the eyes and said, "You deserve it.  I wouldn't go out of my way if  that weren't true."

I STILL DIDN'T BELIEVE HER.

Somehow, having her assistant tell that story made me finally get it.  The truth snapped into place and now I can look back and see almost every exchange I've ever had with Liesa in a new light.  (But certainly not in a bad light.  Although I can definitely see how naive I've been all this time.  I truly do believe that she likes me, too, though.  She refers to me as her "friend" and invited me to her wedding and all.) 

I can now feel confident that Liesa didn't hand me a book contract because of my sparkling personality.  She did it because she was passionate about the characters, the story, and the writing in the book that happens to have been written by me. 

I guess this means I must deserve it after all.

(P.S. I didn't tell you all this to sound all braggy.  I hope it didn't come across that way.  I'm not trying to say that I think I'm some great talent; I just finally understand that Liesa believes I am.)