It will go down in history as the best birthday of my 20s.
D.C.
The best thing that came out of my brief encounter with big-league book publishing was the assignment to work on The Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done by Sandra Newman. I was supposed to write some promotional copy for this semi-out there book that no one was buying. They didn’t use what I wrote because the strengths I saw (this is a book about professional gambling, mystery, alien abductions, and pHd dissertations) were not the same strengths the editor saw (a semi-confusing structure in the form of a business plan). But even though my publicity materials were turned down, I’m pretty sure I’m still this book’s biggest promoter. It’s my favorite book ever. Sure, I read it at a confusing and traditional time in my life, but subsequent rereads have assured me of its greatness. If I ever actually teach a literature class (I won’t, probably), everyone will read this book.
It’s a penny if you get it from Amazon, so you can read it too.
One of the characters in my favorite book, The Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done, is named Denise Cadwallader. Her nickname is D.C., or Deesey, and I get jealous. Why didn’t I think of that first? Although Deesey makes more sense as a nickname for Denise than for Deborah, I share those initials. And I’ve always wanted to tell people to call me D.C., or Deesey.
No one calls me that.
People call me Deb, Debbuh, Little Deb Deb, and DeBORah, but no one calls me Deesey because I’ve never told anyone to call me Deesey. Anyone who might have thought to call me Deesey might think it’s too close to Debbie, which I hate. But it’s not too close to Debbie. I like Deesey. I hate Debbie, mostly.
And as I decide to reread my favorite novel one more time, I’m going to keep hoping that someday, someone will call me Deesey. Without reading this blog post first.
It’s never going to happen.
GPOYW. 3 items of note:
- Sunlight is unstoppable.
- Haircut! I got a haircut! It’s a good one! Scissors, not razors!
- Check out my HOTNESS t-shirt! I doubt I’ll ever be invited to the HOTNESS party, but at least I got the shirt. No one else in my restaurant wanted it, which is baffling. Why would you not want this shirt? In 25 years I’ll give it to my kids or sell it on E-Bay of the Future and it’ll be like, “Oh cool, HOTNESS 2010! That’s so retro! Check out the asymmetrical design! Haha, Minneapolis.”
