Thursday, August 1, 2013

August is the Cruelest Month

It's August, are you thinking back to school? I'm reminded of an August many years ago when I knew I was going to law school in September, I just didn't know which school. Unfortunately that decision wasn't mine to make. You might say the same thing about my next book which is coming out this Fall.

That August, I had been accepted to UNM and CU, but still wait-listed at Duke, Georgetown and North Carolina. I was looking at law schools based on basketball rankings. I had already been rejected by Michigan, so I wasn't a wolverine. I hoped I was smarter than Duke alum Bobby Hurley or Georgetown's Alan Iverson. I would soon find out that I was wrong.

Even then I'd concede I was not destined to be the Michael Jordan of the law like the famed UNC alum, but I still wanted to go there. Hell, how hard could it be to become a 'Heel? I had also applied to non-basketball power Northwestern as a safety school, and I was wait-listed there as well. I can't think of a Northwestern basketball player, but oh well.

Over the course of that August, I fell out of the wait-lists, Nada from Northwestern first, then jerked around at Georgetown and then no contest at North Carolina. I was already in Boulder when I finally was denied from Duke, like Christian L denied Kentucky. At least I wouldn't have to worry about how to spell Coach K's last name.

As for the next book, an unknown person is making the decision for me. I've been told that the winners have already been selected in the Southwest Writer's contest by today. We won't find out until August 15 if we are finalists, and September if we are winners or possibly the story teller, the grand prize winner.

If this blog, entered as Rattlesnake Blogger places in the top three, it most likely be coming out this fall, regardless of whether it wins. If it is the story teller, I might be holding it back and submit it to a mainstream press. If it doesn't even place, I might just put it out anyway or just let it die an electronic death. My safety school, excuse me, my safety book, is Laws and Loves, a collection of my old non-fiction. That has already won and taken second, the two times it has been entered. I can publish the whole book, or just the first hundred pages or so.

I also entered the science fiction book, but there was no science fiction category. I am not that optimistic. However, if it places of God Forbid wins the grand prize, that opens up a  bunch of possibilities. Imagine a prized recruit choosing between Duke and Carolina . . .

TS Eliot had said that April is the cruelest month. I disagree, it's August.

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