New Writer Badge

So my son Mason has discovered the joys of Pokemon Diamond Version for the Nintendo DS Lite (or whatever... it's that thing that replaced the Gameboy that all you kids are into.) Anyway, he's forever running up to me telling me he got a new badge for winning battles and such.

I think we need a system like that for writers.

You could have a "Completed first short story" badge and one for "First Pro Rejection" badge... the list of possibilities is endless. You could end up with a chest full of metal, like some kind of war hero/general.

I got a new one on Friday. I came home to a message on my answering machine: "Hey, so.... about that novel you're already overdue on.... any idea when we might see it? (No pressure!)" I finally get to be one of THOSE writers: dodging calls from their editor, hiding from angry fans...

The rest of the weekend was spent with my head down over a calendar figuring out a serious answer to that question. I think I have one, but my other life keeps interrupting. I just got my editorial letter for my young adult novel ALMOST TO DIE FOR and a January deadline for those edits (some of which aren't small. My editor wants a whole new scene near the end.)

It's funny. When I was a kid, I used to think that curse "May you live in interesting times" was kind of weird. Now I get it. "May you have too much of the work you love."