I have a deal with Kinneret Zmora in Israel to publish Graceling in Hebrew. yAt!
Also, my sister, secret code name: Cordelia, is reading Part One of Draft One of Bitterblue and asserts that it is a book, not a pile of crap. Whew.
Speaking of Cordelia, here is a tidbit about her: Cordelia has physical strength, endurance, and the ability to run long distances rather fast. Currently, Cordelia is training for a 15K in March. The training involves a number of things, including Cordelia dragging unathletic little me to early-morning races. Many race events, in case you don’t know, have long and short options. For example, a 10K (6.2 mi) and a 5K (3.1 mi) will take place simultaneously, and when you register to compete in the event, you choose one race or the other. Anyway, so, lately Cordelia and I have been getting up at the butt crack of dawn and going to these events. She runs the longer portion and I walk the shorter portion. Our most recent race was on this past Saturday morning.
I have always wondered why, when Cordelia and I share big gobs of DNA, she is athletic and I am not. In fact, I have lots of highly athletic relatives, including a pro golfer, a Navy Seal, a superb amateur triathlete, and an uncle who once won the National Spelling Bee.
Oh. Rats. Maybe I’m starting to see the problem.
Anyway, despite our differences in innate athletic ability, it’s clear that Cordelia and I both get into similar mindsets once it’s time to compete. For example, here are some things that Cordelia might do during her race:
- Pick off as many fellow competitors as she can.
- Use her stopwatch to monitor her pace.
- Grab a cup of water from the water people and dump it over her head.
- Reach deep into herself for the grit and determination she needs to succeed.
And here are some things I might do during my race:
- Identify as many species of birds in the surrounding trees as I can.
- Use my cell phone to call my mother (the only person I know who’s guaranteed to be awake at such an ungodly hour).
- Accept a cup of water politely from the water people and chat with them for a few minutes about the variety of bird life in northern Florida.
- Reach deep into my pocket for a sandwich.
My goal on Saturday was to finish walking my 5K before Cordelia finished running her 10K, so that I could be there to scream and whoop and cheer her to the finish line. I reached my goal, just barely. A few minutes after I came walking in, Cordelia came running in, having covered twice the distance, and I screamed my head off so enthusiastically that the people next to me also started screaming. It was great. One of my favorite things to do in the whole world is cheer people across finish lines.
Cordelia came in second in her age group!
