Flipping through my blogroll this morning, I stumbled across a familiar name doing an interview on a wildly popular blog. It was my old critique partner from several years back - you know, the one who just stopped returning my emails with no warning and no explanation. She's got a book coming out.
I want to be happy for her. I want to be thrilled she's getting interviews and that her life has turned around. Really, I do. But I'm not that big a person. Sure, I'm not small enough to want to see her crash and burn, but would it be too much to ask to discover she's stuck in the same place I am after all these years? (Okay, maybe a little behind me... but since I'm pretty much nowhere, that would be hard.)
You know me. I'm the person who shouts good news from the rooftops for my friends. Hell, I'll do it for acquaintances if I like them enough. I've even done it for people I don't even know because I liked their writing. But this? Well, you know how the old saying goes 'Screw me once, shame on you. Screw me twice, shame on me.' And it's not like I haven't had other crit partners that I've parted ways with. We mutually agreed to let it end, or it ended slowly over time. Sometimes things just don't work out, and that's okay.
:shrug:
Anyway, I just thought I'd let y'all know. I'm not that big a person.
In other news - because I don't want this post to be all about negativity...
At 6:30am, my husband's cell phone rang. It's a work phone, so he always picks it up by saying the company and then his name. The caller says "Hey Steve, how's it goin'?' (His name doesn't even rhyme with Steve.) At which point, I can hear my poor husband trying to explain that he's not Steve. The whole thing reminded me of that old Cheech and Chong bit. "Dave's not here."
(The Cheech & Chong video was embedded here, but then it disappeared. I don't know whether to blame Blogger or YouTube.)
And stay tuned. It looks like my next post will be #900. It might be tomorrow, if I have something worth talking about.
I so get where you're coming from - there is one person out there who I feel the exact same way about (not a critique partner, but a writing acquaintance who was less than pleasant). I know I should be pleased with her success (agented), but can't find a damn 'pleased' bone in my body when it comes to her. Petty, but true!!
ReplyDeleteAnd at least the call was at 6:30 and not 3:30 in the morning ;)
LOL. I have one of those too.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to believe karma will show up eventually, but if it doesn't, it won't matter in the end. Success and failure travel in cycles. She won't always be high on her horse.
Besides, speaking from experience, just because you see that person's name everywhere doesn't mean she's popular. It means she's wrangled a bunch of people to host her interviews.
PS A pox on her for being uncool.
I don't think that makes you a bad person or anything. I just think that makes you human. It's difficult to see other people succeed, especially when they're mean to you etc...
ReplyDeleteHang in there, hun. I know your turn will come =)
Just remember, Karma can be a bitch and what goes around comes around. All that good karma you put out? It'll come back eventually. All the bad she put out? Yeah. Just wait. **It runs downhill. ;-)
ReplyDelete