tennis, anyone?

My tennis team had a mixed day on the courts today: one win, two losses. Which means that no, we were not the victors. Congratulations go to the ladies at the NC State University Club, who were worthy competitors and really nice people.

This was my second time playing, and unlike my first time, today my opponent was as inexperienced as I am.  I took the first set but suffered an injury in the process: I was catching the ball (Lisa, my opponent, had hit it over to me for my next serve) and it hit the top of a not-so-long fingernail, breaking that nail about half-way down the nail bed. It’s a horizontal split, which began bleeding, and hurt like hell.  A stupid injury, and, unfortunately, not so debilitating that I can claim it’s to blame for my losing the second set, nor, subsequently, the tie-breaking 10-pt. game.

Can’t blame the ugly blister I later discovered on my right pinkie-toe, either. Dang!

It was a good time otherwise, and while I’d have loved to win, I’m happy to have simply been out there playing tennis, getting great exercise and, yes, getting my shoulders, cheeks and nose a little sunburned on a beautiful, almost-autumn day.

practice makes perfect?

The photo above is me afterward…not. I certainly felt like lying down after my eighteen games, but thought it best not to, lest I get my sweat-soaked, stringy-haired self coated with bits of court dust and clay. How does this K-Swiss model avoid that problem? Oh, wait, I see from the ad copy: she Keeps it Pure. Gotta learn how to do that…

Now, since I’m not really qualified to offer tips for tennis but would like this post to be at least somewhat useful, let me share instead literary agent Michelle Brower’s recent blog post Top Ten Tips for Writers Conferences and her Top Ten Querying Mistakes. Michelle, who works with my agent, Wendy Sherman, is currently looking for fiction not unlike my stuff, and would love to read stories that will make her cry.

For those of you who aren’t writers but wouldn’t mind improving your tennis game, I do have some advice: get out there and play more!  That’s what I’m going to do.

When my finger and toe aren’t quite so sore…