Good News, Fictional and Otherwise

Weekend Assignment: Present three "facts" about yourself: Two of the facts true, and one of the facts false. Let people guess which "fact" is the fake one. Reveal the fake fact on Monday. You don't want to give away the fake fact too early, so be sure to make it sound plausible, next to the other two real facts.

Extra Credit: Can you lie with a straight face? Really?

I've actually done this exercise before. I didn't do it for a blog , although I did once post "100 Things About Karen That Aren't True - and 10 That Are". But I definitely did the "two true things and one false thing about myself" exercise in one of my management courses at the University of Phoenix several years ago. I don't remember exactly what I told people, though, and a quick search through an old notebook just now didn't turn up any notes on it. Ah, well, it doesn't matter. It was a cool thing to do then, and it's even better to do now, with online friends instead of a room full of strangers.

My first instinct on this was to tell stories about my past, but frankly I've already told most of the true stuff already. A couple of good things happened to me today, so I'll tell you my three items of good news, only two of which have actually happened. (I hope the third will happen soon!) Your task is to guess in the comments which items are the real news, and which one is the fib. In decending orders of magnitude:

1. Don't get too excited yet, but Tor has asked to see the rest of the Heirs of Mâvarin. As you may recall, the publisher has had my initial submission package - cover letter, three chapters and synopsis - since February 23rd. Now the Neilsen-Haydens (or one of them; it was Patrick who emailed me) are interested in getting the rest of the manuscript. This is a big step forward, and a huge improvement over my one-week-turnaround rejection back in the mid-1990s. Still, there's no guarantee that they'll buy the book. I'm trying very hard not to count on it, but you know how I feel about all this. These novels are my life's work!

2. I got a fairly substantial raise today at Unnamed Largish Company, as part of my one-year-review. I'm very pleased, and just a little surprised, because my first year won't technically be over with for another week. Afterward I called my Dad with the news, and he kept me on the phone for about half an hour. I can't really tell you any more about this, because of nondisclosure issues and personal privacy and all that. But yes, we have big plans for the money, mostly involving the payment of bills.

3. After months of excuses and health issues and just being too darn busy, I finally made it to the gym tonight. I hadn't worked out since Christmas. I didn't last too long, but I did use the treadmill, plus a shoulder press downstairs. I hope to do better tomorrow. Next time I'll have a fully-charged iPod with me, plus at last one bottle of cold water.

Oh, and I weighed myself while I was there. No, I won't tell you the result. Not even as a lie! Which leads us to the

Extra Credit: no, I'm not an effective liar. Why would I want to be? I may fictionalize from time to time, but never as an attempt to deceive anyone. I'm far more likely to not volunteer information that makes me look bad than to actually tell a lie. In fact, I try never to lie at all. I'm sorry to say that people don't always believe this, but it's true. Really!

Karen

P.S. Please note that the photos are reruns; they won't tell you what I've really been up to today.

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