Long day/field trip
Well, I took a field trip to New Jersey today. My writing class friend, M, used to come to NYC so we could critique each other's work, but she invited me to her house in Glen Ridge because it's hard for her to get away, mainly because of her kids. Glen Ridge is beautiful...lots of trees and a thriving artistic community. Or maybe that's Montclair. Anyway, I had a lot of fun. She loves the book...and her husband read some of the pages lying around the house and said I was a really good writer. However, it's fascinating; no matter how thoroughly one person has combed your pages, another person will find something else. I think I needed a J to look at it (in Myers-Briggs terms); M is an ENFJ, while D, who read it before, is an INFP. M really picked up on a lot of the practical details and logistics in the novel and I was grateful for that. Her book is about a SAHM whose life is kind of on a downward spiral (but written in a lively, humorous way).
I also got to meet her two children, L and S. S is a four-year-old girl who is sharp as anything; you can tell she doesn't miss a thing, and she's filing everything away for later. M told me S would remember what I was wearing a year from now, "no joke". M came in on me reading Thomas the Tank Engine to L, and burst out laughing. L told me he was going to have a dinosaur party, but now he's going to have a train party (for his birthday). Later, M told me, "naked children alert!" They were both jumping up and down on L's bed, their towels abandoned on the bedspread. Later they threw their towels on M's head and mine.
I told M about the "shape of a mother" website and of course she wanted to see it. She was wearing a kind of abbreviated tank top and her stomach was completely normal. Anyway, they had changed the pictures on the site around a bit. She wrinkled her nose and said, "Eww!" at a few of them. She felt that most of them were posted for shock value and assured me she had no stretch marks. She did use cocoa butter; she explained you have to use it because the skin gets so itchy after it's stretched.
I also got to meet her two children, L and S. S is a four-year-old girl who is sharp as anything; you can tell she doesn't miss a thing, and she's filing everything away for later. M told me S would remember what I was wearing a year from now, "no joke". M came in on me reading Thomas the Tank Engine to L, and burst out laughing. L told me he was going to have a dinosaur party, but now he's going to have a train party (for his birthday). Later, M told me, "naked children alert!" They were both jumping up and down on L's bed, their towels abandoned on the bedspread. Later they threw their towels on M's head and mine.
I told M about the "shape of a mother" website and of course she wanted to see it. She was wearing a kind of abbreviated tank top and her stomach was completely normal. Anyway, they had changed the pictures on the site around a bit. She wrinkled her nose and said, "Eww!" at a few of them. She felt that most of them were posted for shock value and assured me she had no stretch marks. She did use cocoa butter; she explained you have to use it because the skin gets so itchy after it's stretched.
Comments
cocoa butter - i've heard great things about it when it comes to stretch marks. Believe it or not I had a few marks on my hips/booty area when I 'blossomed' into womanhood.. lol. My cousin grew upstairs (if you know what I mean) and scratched so she got stretch marks there. I'm not looking forward to giving birth. Let me know if you get any more tips so I can store them up for whenever I do get pregnant.
We have naked alerts around here frequently.
Also, on a totally unrelated note: Madonna is adopting an African village in Malawi! (my favorite country!) Of course the cynic in me is already on guard that this will be yet another Oprah-esque feel-good vanity project. But at least she's trying, right?
carolyn - it's kind of funny, the naked frolicking. i guess it has to stop after a certain age ;)
ashley - one of my writing teachers is also an agent, so i'm going to show it to her after some more revisions. i'm also putting together a list of contacts, but she's the only agent i know personally.
lisa - awesome! you can email me any comments :) i didn't know that about madonna. she is definitely trying :)
Don't get me wrong, constructive criticism is good, but it's always nice to be appreciated and to have someone enjoy your work.
Not necessarily. LOL