Beta read it, betta smile

Sometimes you can make people who love books happy. Sometimes without even giving them a real book.

You may have met this beautiful young women, The Star, via her mother's blog Cherry Bombastic. You may have also stumbled upon the post Bad Hair Day, the one where her brother (he liked my daughter for about 5 minutes in fifth grade) thought it a good idea to ask sis to cut his hair.

She agreed.

It wasn't a good idea.

That day ended in a buzz cut.

Today had a better ending. In fact, it had an awesome beginning.

Previously, The Star traveled with the Washington contingent (her mom and me) to the Write to Publish seminar at Portland State University. The Star doesn't mind skipping school for a day, in fact, she reveled in it, consumed the writing feast with rapt attention, and totally embraced fiction by dropping hints she was a freshman, not in high-school exactly, more like college. The former is true.

Just to be clear, a day spent in proximity of me means 'manuscript mania.' (Me maniac). Instead of being annoyed she was intrigued. I like that kid. In fact, I like that kid enough to be friends with her, not only in real life, in virtual life. Facebook life. It was in that altered FB state she mentioned she was interested in reading the manuscript.

Any good mom-type would not just hand over whatever a kid wanted, right? I aim to be a good mom-mentor. I held the manuscript hostage. I said, "First, find me five new facebook fans." Then I thought, that's a lot of 'F's for one sentence. Oh, and yes, I have a fan page, I don't promote it here, it's more for people who know me, building a strong local platform is my first PR initiative. I work in advertising, I've got the whole plan mapped out. Watch out world.

Kids these days, even if they go to the arts school, don't necessarily want to be associated with anyone's artsy MOM. Mom weirdness can rub off, make you odd. So, you have to give The Star credit for hanging out and believing the fan request had merit.

She delivered...not only five FB fans, but six! She has persuasive power. She may have a career in sales.

A good mom-mentor also delivers on promises.

When I saw four new fans pop up I started printing. At five I whooped and called her a 'dude,' as in "dude, you are awesome!" (I had a guy call me dude on Twitter, so I figured that was the current fad lingo).

I delivered Part One of A Single Pearl. . .

How bad would I be if I made her come up with five more fans to get part two?

I'm kidding I would never do that...

I think.

Top