Exposing Clark Kent

If you asked my co-workers what they did in their spare time, you’d get answers like this:

“I have my own construction and remodeling business.”
“I’m a semi-professional mountain biker.”
“I’m a power lifter.”
“I run marathons.”

As you can see, “I write novels about teenage girls” doesn’t quite fit in the above list. However, that is indeed what I do, and I decided it was time to let my co-workers in on my “secret identity.” So, being the brave and confident person that I am, I waited until 6:00 PM, hurriedly sent out an email inviting co-workers to a book signing, and rushed out the door before anyone could come by my desk to say something.

Real professional, right?

As I’ve said numerous times, I can be a little self-conscious about writing. Writing is much more subjective than engineering. When I design a bridge, it’s either designed per the specification or it’s not. In writing, there is no code or spec book.

Of course, the good thing about writing novels is that it’s a lot less stressful than design work, especially with all this hurricane talk going around. I would not want to be one of the engineers that designed some of the New Orleans levies right about now.

Speaking of hurricanes, Rita is heading our way, but it should be pretty weak by the time it gets close to Austin. However, please keep all those on the Texas coast in your prayers over the upcoming days.

And, as I told my co-workers, if you read the book and don’t like it, you can take comfort in the fact that I’m a much better engineer than novelist.