Well, this morning's mood is...baffled. Y'know how writers always both want and fear reviews of their work? I've gotten one brilliant review of "Some Girlfriends Can", from Tangent, and today I read the new issue of the Internet Review of Science Fiction with that familiar mingling of hope and dread. (Because, even though we all know reviews don't Matter, capital-M, they really do anyway, don't they?) And it turned out that it had been reviewed. Under the name "Stephanie Burgess".

Maybe only members of my immediate family--who've suffered this exact same problem before--can understand the depth of my emotions here.

When I was 16 and I won a big short-story contest for more money than I'd ever seen before, I was ecstatic at having an interview requested for the school paper. The journalist (a classmate of mine) interviewed me, took a picture, I raced to get a copy that week...and again, I'd been listed as Stephanie Burgess.

Not my name. Not me.

This is the point where sane people start rolling their eyes and pointing out that a little spelling mistake is Not a Big Deal. And they're right. It really, truly isn't. I know that. It just makes the back of my teeth grind together in a way that's bad for my future dentures.

Anyway, the review itself was fine--not brilliant, but very fair and honest.

So on to the real news (and away from old, old neuroses).

Note (some hours later): I contacted the reviewer, who was helpful and professional and immediately fixed the spelling problem. Whew! I thought about taking out this entry, but then figured, well, plenty of people had probably read it already...so why not let my neuroses spill out in public just a little more?

***

I got my first real Christmas present yesterday--woohoo! My amazing youngest brother sent me the DVD of Some Like It Hot, and after some truly heroic attempts at patience and self-restraint (no really!) I called him up and begged to be allowed to watch it Right Away. (This is why we don't put presents under the tree until Christmas morning itself in our household!) He said yes, and Patrick and I had a wonderful evening watching it. It was even funnier than I'd remembered, and I loved it. Thank you Dave!

And, in more good news, I just got the editorial suggestions from Strange Horizons for my story "Inside the Tower", which will probably be published there in mid-January instead of mid-March, as earlier predicted. Hurrah! I'm very pleased.

We're leaving for Bristol tomorrow morning. Today is the day to finally, finally finish my Christmas shopping--for real this time!