Target Success!

I finally saw my book in Target! They were putting books out on the shelves when I was there, so they must have finally got their shipment in. I think I scared the poor kid who was doing the shelving. He noticed me staring at the shelf (as I admired my book) and asked if he could help me. I told him I was just admiring my book on the shelf. He gave me a really funny look. I picked up a copy and said, "I'm the author. I wrote this book, and this is the first time I've seen it on the shelf in Target, so I'm really excited about it." He seemed a little stunned. I guess when you're the guy who puts stuff on the shelves in Target, you don't expect to run into the author of the book you're shelving. They had three copies, and since all the books around it also had three copies, I'm assuming that's standard for that store. I shall have to visit the store again later in the week to see if any have sold. I also want to buy a copy that has that "Bookmarked" sticker on it because I am a huge dork.

As excited as I was to finally see my book there, I may have been more excited to find that they had the Levi's "Signature" jeans in stock, and they were on sale, and they had two pairs in my size. Those jeans seem to fit me better than others I've tried, and I like the cut of the mid-rise jeans -- not "mom jeans" high, but not scary low. I bought both pairs they had in my size, so now I've got a suitable stockpile of jeans.

I'm starting to think I have some kind of issue with keys and locks. There was the incident last summer when I couldn't open my front door, in spite of unlocking it (the latch wouldn't work). Then there was the incident where I locked my keys in the car during a booksigning. Today, I had a scary moment when my car key wouldn't go into the ignition. I'd managed to unlock my trunk with my key, then I'd unlocked the door. I went to start the car, and my key wouldn't go in at all. I double checked to make sure it was the right car, and it did have the red stiletto air freshener, which was a pretty good sign, in addition to the fact that I'd managed to unlock the door (though there have been a couple of incidents where I couldn't unlock the door, and then I realized I was trying to open a car identical to mine or identical to the rental I was driving at the time). While I was fighting with the key, I remembered an errand I was supposed to run at the store next door, so I went and took care of that, came back to the car, jiggled the steering wheel around a bit, and then eventually the key went in and the car started, and there was much rejoicing. I suspect it may have had something to do with the heat. My car really doesn't like being hot, and it was around 100 degrees (not good for being stuck in a car I can't get started). There are days when Owen would really come in handy for stuff like that. I'm sure he could unlock the door or get the car started with the wave of a hand.

I have the rest of book 4 more or less outlined -- until something else comes up to surprise me and derail things again. I'm planning on a marathon tonight to help me get my momentum back. I've stocked up on Dr Pepper, and I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow, so the way is clear for me to get some work done.

Soon I'll have some very big news to announce -- yes, even bigger than the Target news. I just want to double check a few things because I'm a raving paranoid and would hate to announce something only to have it fall through. When I'm entirely confident that it really is a done deal, I'll announce it here first. I suppose I should use this as a way of building my mailing list and say that I'll announce it there first, so you'd better go sign up, but I figure if you're bothering to come here on a regular basis, you don't need to be on any mailing list to know about important stuff like book releases or booksignings or any other big news.