say hello to li'l miss published author (subtitle: more fun with unattained goals)

My regular readers (and I may be up to six, pushing seven, since I joined the Facebook) have probably noticed that my life strategy is this:

You can sometimes overcome the vast disparity between your talent and your aspirations with an ample dose of girlish enthusiasm.

I recently learned that my enthusiasm has once again paid off, as I have been published in an important national magazine: Real Simple (Yeah, yeah... I know... there's a punch line in there somewhere...)

One of the regular monthly features of Real Simple is called 'Your Words,' and it involves having readers submit their brief (a challenge for some of us) thoughts on a particular topic or a helpful hint or somesuch. Many months later, several of the submissions are printed and apparently the only way you know if Your Words were printed is if you actually read the magazine instead of dutifully adding it to the stack of magazines you subscribe to but never actually find the time to read.

Well, I was pleasantly surprised to learn recently that way back in June 2008 I made the cut and was published in that month's edition of 'Your Words!' The topic was "Share the three things you would love to accomplish in your lifetime." On that subject, your favorite goal-oriented, wistfully-romantic, chick sailing blogger offered up the following:


A lot has happened since June 2008, I guess, because...

• #1 is a no-go (unless of course I find a new best friend with adorable dimples, an off-the-charts sense of humor, and some smokin-hot mad sailing skillz. [Was going to add 'and a nice @ss,' but that seems rather impolite to say right out loud or whatever.])
• #2, per my aging ovaries, is also likely a no-go, at least in the traditional sense, unless we start working on it right this very minute. (see #1 above.)
• Since it does not depend on achieving success in a romantic relationship, #3 will happen, most likely during the summer of 2010!

So how's this for street cred? I know, right?! I'll bet that my Technorati authority rating will surely start to soar now. (What does that even mean?!) Anyway, maybe I should submit a piece to Newsweek, SAIL, or Popular Science next. Hmmm... or maybe not.