So, here's the little peanut

This was at 9 weeks. I'm at 16 weeks now (at least, according to the scale that doctor's use, which I think is about 2 weeks off).

Isn't this cool?

My editor sent me a link to this blog, where La Gringa picked my book as her "best title of the week." Cool, eh?

And bonus...I'll have to go through her blog now 'cause she listens to some great music.

Update, update, where's yer update

The big reason I hadn't written in this blog for a while (notwithstanding any exhortations from my sister) is that we'd decided not to tell anyone about the whole pregnancy / baby thing until we'd hit the 3 month mark and gotten all the test results back. And it felt really weird to NOT write about something so big in our lives...like a 10,000 pound white elephant in the room (though, yegods, if the baby is anywhere near elephant size I'm going to be screaming bloody murder).

But we've officially come out of the pregnancy closet, so hopefully I can get myself back in the habit again.

So...let's see.

First off, the whole book thing is great. My editor, Nina, is great. The revisions were pretty painless. There wasn't anything she brought up that I didn't agree with and I think the book is better now than it was. I think they are treating me fairly and I haven't had any issues with the process at all.

Yay!

And, I got a ping from a production company interested in possibly picking up the tv/film rights. I'm not getting all worked up about that, since I've heard so many horror stories from different people, but it would be cool. I actually think Sucks to Be Me would make a great TV show. I think you'd want to go a little more over the top than I did in the book, but it could easily be adapted and it'd be funny show. Turn the whole vampire-genre on tv thing upside down.

So we'll see what happens with all of that.

And on the baby front...all the tests were all good, no matter that they keep telling me I'm of "advanced maternal age" (poo on them) since I'll be 35 by the time the baby gets here. I really haven't gained any weight yet, but I have got a small little tummy going. Which means I'm mostly already out of my pants (sadly, I was already kinda in my fat pants). At this point, I'd actually rather be wearing the maternity stuff. That way, it at least looks like you're pregnant vs. looking like you had way too much for lunch.

Tony was there for the first ultrasound. It's kinda funny. The baby's like this little kewpie doll, waving it's little arms and legs around. Little peanut. They also have this 3D ultrasound thingy that's almost kind of freaky. I'll have to scan it in and post it sometime.

As for the family, everyone seems to be excited. Actually, I think some of them are more excited than we are. Tony and I just aren't, you know, screamers. We're pretty calm people. We don't squeal. I have a really hard time cheering at sporting events (okay, there's a lot of reasons there, probably, but still). I thought Lisa was practically going to keel over.

Of course, right after that, she proceeded to tell me a horror story about when she was pregnant and didn't make it to the bathroom on time once. Thanks, sis.

Book Meme

I was tagged by Cheryl for a book meme. I hadn't done one in a while (heck, I haven't updated my blog in a while), so I thought I'd do it. And hey, I finished off the final revisions on my book, so I had no excuses anyway.

1. Hardcover or paperback, and why?
Hardcover if I plan on keeping it. But then, I really love old paperbacks too. I have a whole collection of old sci-fi paperbacks and they're fun in a way that a HB can't quite be. So...I guess my real answer is "I don't care; I just like books."

2. If I were to own a book shop I would call it…
You'd think I'd have a good title all prepared. Huh. Maybe "Down the Rabbit Hole"? Kind of a double meaning there -- there's the Alice in Wonderland reference and the whole thought of losing yourself in something new and fantastic. Of course, I guess you could also get a drug reference out of it too, but let's not go there. Follow the White Rabbit and all that.

3. My favorite quote from a book (mention the title) is…
“Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor.”–Lazarus Long (Robert. A. Heinlein)

I think that's from The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

And there's this, from Henry Rollins, of all people:
"If I lose the light of the sun, I will write by candlelight, moonlight, no light. If I lose paper and ink, I will write in blood on forgotten walls. I will write always. I will capture nights all over the world and bring them to you."

I'm not sure where that's from though. Has he written a book? Probably...maybe. I dunno.

4. The author (alive or diseased) I would love to have lunch with would be ….
Robert A. Heinlein
Harry Harrison (had dinner with him once; would love to see him again - he's awesome)
Douglas Adams
P. L. Travers

5. If I was going to a deserted island and could only bring one book, except from the SAS survival guide, it would be…
Could I cheat and say a set of Encyclopedias? That's kind of like one big book, right?

6. I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that….
...was like a hand-held scanner and you could just point it at a bunch of books on the shelf and it would catalog them all to your computer.

7. The smell of an old book reminds me of….
happiness

8. If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title), it would be….
I think I've read too many books to answer this. Maybe Coraline, if I had to pick one. She's brave and plucky and she's got her whole life ahead of her. It would really depend. And besides, for a book to be good, there's got to be conflict. Take poor Harry, for instance. Would you really want to go through everything he did? Of course, I wouldn't really want to go through what Coraline did either...

9. The most overestimated book of all times is….
Ulysses. I'm sorry, but it's really almost impossible to read. I understand that what Joyce did was amazing and there's even other stuff of his I like okay, but Ulysses...just...ugh.

10. I hate it when a book….
Has a lot of typos. A minor thing, I suppose, but it always takes me out of the story. There are other things, but typos are consistently annoying.

So, I suppose I should tag someone back. I'll say Pam and Jeffy. Not that I think Jeffy has a blog, but I'd be curious to hear his answers (and he might actually read this).