when jealousy visits

Jealousy is one of the occupational hazards of being a writer, and the most degrading. And I, who have been the Leona Helmsley of jealously, have come to believe that the only things that help ease or transform it are (a) getting older, (b) talking about it until the fever breaks, and (c) using it as material. ~Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird

So even Anne suffers from this disease. At least I’m in good company.

I once talked with a friend  at a writing conference held in a Mexican restaurant. She told me about the novel she was working on and how her publisher had requested the historical setting–the same setting I planned for mine, one I thought was unique.

That’s about the time the green guy appeared at my shoulder with a bowl of chips.

“That could have been YOU,” he hissed like hot salsa in my ear. “SHOULD have been you. After all, YOU had the idea first. You are such a procrastinator. All these great ideas you have, and you never follow through. If you’d finished first, that publisher would have snapped your book right up. You lose. Again. And by the way, you’re not getting any younger.”

I threw the jalapeno fire sauce in his face.

But he still wouldn’t leave me alone. Meet me over at BibleDude.net for more…

Still battling that green guy,

Sandy

Telling His story with Jennifer