Sinterklaas

Hello all!

Here I am again! I've recovered from my champagne hangover and survived my re-entry into regular daily life...

Marten and the girls brought me breakfast in bed (beschuit met muisjes!) to celebrate the victory of having written a book. The word 'book' is used euphemistically, I assure you, but I loved celebrating having reached my goal all the same.

Véronique has read the manuscript, and we have since had several good laughs about the confusing chronology, the characters that lack depth, the clumsy dialogue and the persistant use of my own voice for several characters. She laughed out loud over several bits, not because of sparkling prose, but only because she recognized the shameless insertion of episodes from real life... but, having said that, I am proud to say that she actually shed tears over the bits that were meant to be sad.

Her final verdict, I believe, is that it is a wonderful skeleton of a book that should be at least twice as long as it is now. I have been given orders to sort out the time line, do the necessary research, and continue to write with a focus on realistic detail.

On a less happy note, my internal editor has returned from the Internal Editor Kennel. On my way home from work on 1 December, I noticed an irritating critical voice in the back of my mind that I had not heard since 1 November. I was just starting to cower and feel insecure, when it occurred to me that I could hide the 'book' from my editor. So there I stood in my mind's eye with the manuscript behind my back, innocently whistling "Singin' in the Rain", when She asks me how my month was.
Me: "oh, fine. Nothing special. Same ole, same ole...and you - how was the Internal Editor vacation camp?"
Internal Editor: "Great. Learned a lot of new tactics. What's that behind your back? Have you been writing while I was gone?"
Me: "Who me?! Nah..."
Etc.
It wasn't pretty. Playing out this goofy scene in my head somehow chased the insecurity away. Just to be on the safe side, however, I have have decided not to look at the manuscript myself for a week.

I asked Sonia for a kiss on my nose, and she gave me one, but her lips didn't make the smooch sound she likes so much. She used a phrase Maddy uses when she has attempted a trick on the bar, and it doesn't turn out right.
Sonia: "Wacht, dat was 'm niet" = "Wait, that wasn't it"
She gives me a second kiss on the nose, this time with smooch sound. That was it.
Maybe it is that way with this book too. "Wait, that wasn't it... just give me a year to get it right."

Fun news about Maddy: She and Marten went to see a famous Dutch band that produces children's music (called V.O.F. De Kunst) at the new theater here in Alphen aan den Rijn.
It was a full house...700 people there swinging to jazzy renditions of Sinterklaas songs. At one point Sinterklaas himself arrives, and the lead singer invites all the kids onto the stage. Maddy joins about 200 kids in running up to the front of the theater and climbing on stage. There is music, there is dancing, there is singing and clapping.

And suddenly there is an announcement.

"A little girl here would like to sing a song for you, Sinterklaas!" The crowd goes silent.

Our little redhead has managed to worm her way through all the other kids and pull on the lead singers pant's leg long enough to get his attention and subsequently convinced him that she really really wants to sing a song for Sinterklaas. And there she stood, smiling and relaxed in her Zwarte Piet suit, singing a Sinterklaas song she had just learned at school, and which apparently no one else knew. A solo act. Applause. When the music started again, Maddy continued dancing with the other kids and having a great time. A star is born...