iPhone Revolution

The inkling began when I saw this.
My blogging friend Corey had an iPhone and was posting fabulous photos from her home in Provence. Throughout the day she updated her blog. She took videos at the French brocante (flea market), spoke with her French husband, and shot a video at the edge of a cliff in Cassis. Okay, maybe Apple was paying her to sell the iPhone, but my mind began to plot.
With an iPhone, I could update my blog while I travelled. I could take pictures and videos without carrying along my clunky camera. I could use the iPhone as a reader rather than buying a separate eReader.
I needed a new phone. My phone was beaten and battered. It quit for no reason and sometimes I'd have to remove the battery and replace it to get the phone to work again. We had a credit I could get the iPhone for $99. I ordered it and anxiously watched for the FedEx delivery person.
Today my iPhone arrived. I set it up and waited for my life to change. I expected that I might look out the window and see a mountain soar toward a painfully blue sky just like Corey did with her first iPhone photo.
Instead my front porch is still here in Ohio, but the new cushions on my porch swing look a little French. I guess the iPhone won't change my life. It might take me awhile to figure out how to text and make calls, much less post videos on my blog.
Who knows, maybe this is only the first step toward a fabulous new life that Earl and I will have in Provence someday, and I'll take my iPhone with me.

In the Grasp of the Green-Eyed Monster

When other people succeed, we should feel happy for them, I tell my kids. That doesn't diminish your chances for success, I say.
So I hate it when I find myself resenting someone who succeeded so easily at something I have been trying to achieve. That's exactly how I felt when I clicked on a blog yesterday. It's on a list of blogs that I read occasionally. The woman is already living my dream. American, living in France. She took the summer off blogging to focus on a "story" she wanted to write.
I remember thinking, "How cute" and "Wish it was that easy." I don't know if I've even looked at her blog since then, but yesterday I clicked on it and there was a copy of the story from Publisher's Weekly about her three-book deal. Young adult series. Zombies.
Okay, I don't know if I'll ever write a young adult novel and zombies don't really enter my vocabulary or my thought process, but I felt the bite of jealousy. Why was there a book deal for her?
I want to be happy for her. Terrific. That's awesome! Way to go!
Instead, I think, why not me?
At least the news lit a fire under me. "Remember that you were going to spend Christmas break writing, not running." Well, I'll just have to do both.
I'll be the Biggest Loser and the prolific writer all at once. If I don't finish this next one, which is going to be better than ever, I can never sell it and copy my own Publisher's Weekly article.
Congratulations, Amy. Hopefully, one day I'll join your circle.
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