Motto, slogon, whatever

“If you don’t ask to be moistened, you don’t get moistened.”

That is my personal motto.  Like all good mottos, there’s a story behind it.  When I was pregnant with The Bandit, I was on required bed rest from the fifth month.  It was lonely and boring and hot.  The only time I was supposed to be out of bed was for doctor’s appointments.  It was a darn good thing I had seven or eight doctor’s appointments scheduled a week or I would have imploded. 

I called my friends, My Honey and my mom at work often.  “What are you doing now?  How about now?”  Kelli got me a Netflix gift certificate so I watched a bunch of movies and the entire Sex in the City series in a row.  I had a television schedule that involved Rockford Files which, honestly, was one of the few perks of bed rest.  I still have a crush on James Garner.

So there I lay, slowing growing more beached whale like everyday.  One night it was especially warm and my body temperature was up anyway so I hollerd for My Honey.  When he arrived I asked him for a favor.

“I want you to go into the bathroom with a clean washcloth, get it wet, and come back here and moisten me.”

Obviously, that didn’t happen.  It was a totally insane request.  But he MIGHT have done it, but he never would have if I hadn’t asked. In fact, he may have if I hadn’t asked in such a crazy lady sort of way. 

Thus was the beginning of my motto.  You never know what you might get if you ask.  You definitely won’t get it if you don’t.

So I started asking some of my favorite writers for ARCs.  For the uniniated, that an Advanced Reader Copy.  For the several months before the book festival, I write for my examiner.com site like a crazy person and the rest of the year, the column pretty much remains idle.  Why shouldn’t I write reviews for all the books I read? 

I emailed a favorite of mine, Rachel Gibson, last week because the latest in her currrent series is coming out at the end of April.  She forwarded me a signed copy right away and I started it tonight.

So all of you out there, ask to be moistened.  You never know what you might get.