My kids are outside playing in the wet, muddy grass, the boys swinging Ebba around (to her utter delight and my utter alarm) so I’m going to have to make this quick.
1. First, have you seen these photos of a lioness rescuing her cub from a steep ravine in Kenya’s Maasai Mara game reserve? Amazing. A mother’s love is a mother’s love, no matter what species.
2. This song sung by Brian Setzer has special meaning for me, especially today (see #5 below). So I thought I’d share it with you.
Sigh.
3. Have you seen all the hoopla with Amazon’s new announcements? At the press conference revealing the new Kindles, this chart flashed onto the screen behind Jeff Bezos during his presentation.
Yowza. How’s that for incentive to publish ebooks? Can anyone argue that paper books will become a thing of the past? Add to that all the people who will be buying one of the four new ereaders (one is only $79 and there’s a color touch tablet that’s a mere $199), and we’re going to see ebooks taking over the book market.
Which in all honesty I find both thrilling and heartbreaking. I love my paper books. I have overflowing shelves of paper books, and I always will. When I go to buy a book, I buy it in paper. I like holding books in my hands. I like studying the cover art. I like turning pages. I like how books look and feel. I am not personally sold on buying my books digitally. BUT, and this is a big but, I’m thrilled with this news because it means I might be able to make a living as a writer. There is a lot more space (unlimited!) for authors on the virtual book shelf, and books never have to be returned unsold to make room for what’s new. It’s a really good time to be a writer.
And regardless of how much I love paper books, in all reality it’s likely that my grandchildren will grow up with ereaders in their hands, and look with bemused smiles at my stuffed book shelves as antiques. (They’ll do the same with my CD collection.)
4. In other sorta-book news . . . over the weekend, I got all made up for the first time in YEARS (I’m so not exaggerating that) so Steve could take my author photos. (When the kids saw me with makeup on, they all said, “You look weird, Mom.” And I believe Torin and Riley had extensive conversations about how I looked like “a weirdo.” Contrary to their consensus, I think I actually looked just fine.) There were so many beautiful photos, it was hard to narrow it down. (I swear, this man could do this professionally.) But I have chosen a few for my profiles on the web. And I know which one will be on the books. Fun!
5. Hmmm, what else? Oh, yeah. Steve and I are celebrating our 11th anniversary today. Our first dance was to the song above. And Steve has taken the day off from work just like he does every year (though he tried to convince me he hadn’t, saying that perhaps he’d forgotten about it, that he had to go in early in the morning, etc. . . . He tried. I didn’t buy it.). (He also does that every year on my birthday—both take the day off and try to convince me ahead of time that he didn’t.) (Seriously, there are *reasons* I love this man. Many, many reasons.)
Okay, it’s raining now, and I have four wet, muddy kids coming inside. Looks like a good time for showers!
Have a great weekend everyone!