I was sitting in my hotel room eating leftover bread and butter (food-wise, I'd do okay in prison) and a cupcake, reading through my exponentially growing daily blog list, when I noticed Michelle McLean had announced the winner of her Celebration Contest. I'd entered several other contests recently and won none, so I wasn't expecting anything. Lo and behold, though, I scrolled down to Silver Medalist, and whose name was there?
Mine!
I looked at it a moment, confused. Did two Abby Stevenses enter? Did it actually say Abby Annis, and my eyes were playing tricks on me?
But nope! It was MY name! As Silver Medalist, I won the choice between a query critique by Michelle and her agented writer friends (at least 5 as of the posting of her blog) or a signed copy of Jessica Verday's THE HOLLOW and a perfume sample set featuring scents inspired by her characters.
I was very tempted to take THE HOLLOW prize pack, because I love free stuff - especially signed free stuff - and the book sounds great (I've added it to my 'to read' list), but in the end, a query critique by a published author and her agented friends was too good to pass up.
On the way to Philly yesterday, we were listening to Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio when Cowherd said he thought the reason the Olympics are so successful is because, in a society of too many choices - television, movies, music, radio, everything - we rarely experience moments of shared emotion on a grand scale.
You made us proud, buddy!
More often than not, bonding moments are born of tragedy - Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 Tsunami, last month's earthquake in Haiti, and of course, 9/11. We all remember crowding desperately around a television with strangers or coworkers or classmates and seeing the planes hit the Towers, feeling a collective sense of mourning. We remember Congress gathering on the steps of the Capitol Building to sing, "God Bless America" and feeling proud and bittersweet. Moments like those are important because they help us unite and do something to overcome.
Happily, there are also moments that unite us for good reasons. Every two years, the summer and winter Olympics do this, as do television shows and movies on a regular basis. The previous generation gathered together to watch the series finale of MASH. We gathered to watch the series finale of FRIENDS. In the 70s, everyone saw ROCKY multiple times. In the 90s, we did that for TITANIC. Now, we are doing it for AVATAR.
Sorry AVATAR fans, but I prefer Jack and Rose over Neytiri and Jake.
And while we experience these moments of shared emotion and belonging more often with movies and television, we also experience them with books. People love to belong, to be part of something. It's why millions of fans are devoted to HARRY POTTER and TWILIGHT and LORD OF THE RINGS. It's not just the awesome characters and the immersive worlds that draw them in - it's a sense of belonging to a group of people that "get" some small part of you.
Gollum and his Precious want to belong, too.
What shared experiences have you been a part of? What books give you a sense of belonging?
