look how they shine for you

My book is technically already out, and has been for a week, but I still feel nervous and giddy about tomorrow, like it's the first day of school, graduation, and my wedding all wrapped into one. It's the culmination of so many things, the peak after years of effort -- but it's also the start of everything, the first step toward what I hope is a lifetime of writing success. I don't know what it will hold; my goal for the first year is to produce enough books and sell enough of them to be able to keep doing this full-time, and it's theoretically possible even though it will be a lot of hard work. Still, I'm excited, and if nothing else, it's great that my family and friends have been so supportive. So yay to all of you!

Today was the calm before the storm. I succeeded in writing a few pages of Malcolm and Amelia's book, even though I kept getting distracted by checking stats. I talked to my parents for an hour, [censored] for half an hour, and my aunt for a few minutes (in response to the comment she left on last night's post), and they were all good. I also spent too much time looking at my 23andMe information, which I just got back this week; I had bought the test a year ago and never took it, but I finally sent it in just before it expired, and I got the results back this week. [censored] and I compared results, and it turns out we are related (phew). Some of my results amused me -- for instance, it says that I'm a 'likely sprinter' (although that's based on muscle recovery, not on height/ability to walk without stumbling). It also said that I'm in the 83rd percentile for Neanderthal DNA, whatever that means. But generally, there was nothing either surprising or worrisome (and the only worrisome thing is also unsurprising, given how many of my relatives have had dementia), although I've got some cleft lip genes that my kids will have to watch out for. [censored] and I both have slightly higher than normal odds of living to be 100, so hopefully we will be antagonizing each other for many years to come.

As for the rest of the day, I have little to report. I worked on the manuscript off and on, alternating with a variety of promo stuff. I watched bits and pieces of the 49ers game, although Terry was in no state to tolerate my 'humor' by the end of it. I also made chicken pad thai for the first time ever, using the recipe from the gluten-free cookbook my parents gave me, and it turned out both extremely tasty and surprisingly quick to make. Alyssa would want me to have more vegetables, and I'll have to do a vegetable dish to go along with it next time, but for a first effort it was really good.

And now, my friends, it is time to sleep. Goodnight!