Oh, just a bit. I mean, how much do you wanna bet I would've sold my novel already for a shiny advance if I were a Bush twin or a Kerry daughter?

And I do get a bit angry about stuff like that, while simultaneously being resigned to it as How the World Works.

And I do get a bit angry about stuff like that, while simultaneously being resigned to it as How the World Works.

That particular problem can be self-correcting, though. A very sweet kid named Molly Jong-Fast - and yes, she is Erika Jong's daughter and Howard fast's granddaughter - had a novel published about three years ago, called "Normal Girl." The book was godawful, and died a natural death.

But the foot-in-the-door thing can make me very bruxistic.

Sort of on this topic, there's a new series in the SF Chronicle, where they follow famous or influential people around for a day.

This Sunday it was Melanie Craft, the romance novelist who married Larry Ellison last year. They followed her to her personal training session where she paid $70/hour three times a week to be whipped into shape for her novel readings, to her Japanese temple of a house where she ate jasmine rice and green tea for breakfast while sitting on cushions on the floor, to her salon where she had a manicure so her nails would look nice for her signing, to her signing where I had to stop reading because I'd crumpled up the paper and used it to scoop dog poop from my backyard.

This is influential? And how likely is it that this woman's next novel will get published not for its quality but because she's Larry Ellison's wife?

Note: I have no idea of the quality of her writing one way or the other. I only read romances recommended by Betsy or Micole. *g*

I get that, and hate it, as well.(And I'm envious, too...I admit it. I wonder what I could do with that kind of support.) And I hate that people read that stuff, cause people on the street have kind of a secret handshake attitude as regards writers and writing anyway, ime. Maybe we're rubes in the desert though.Oh, Deb, insent.

t sunny optimist But when I actually stop to look at my bookshelves, most of the books I own were written by people with no more inherent pull to help them get their feet in the door than what I have. And many of them are even successful enough to make a living at it. t /sunny optimist

'suela, makes you wonder about the beneficial side effects of sexual harassment, doesn't it? Dear old Larry or, as my then three-year-old godson called him. Mister 'mungous and Vulgar....

Well, he does share the wealth. One of my housemates some years ago was working on the temple complex he's building in Woodside, and that's not complete yet. She got a lot of good experience in fine Japanese carpentry from the masters he imported for the project. Did you know they even imported the wood?

Did you know they even imported the wood?

Yup. And I'd felt a lot kinder about it if hje hadn't cut down a shitload of rare old trees to make room for his Japanese temple, after agreeing with the town in writing to not do that, and then waving his moneybags at them.

At least he could have used the wood from the trees he obliterated.

erika, did you send me something? Nothing's arrived.

Well, I thought so... that's weird.