Slogging on....and counting entries

"The report of my death was an exaggeration." - Mark Twain

Hell, anytime you can quote Mark Twain, you should do it.  When it's applicable, even better.  Those of you who know me personally know that I've been sick and getting sicker for the past couple of weeks.  I'm too tough/stubborn/arrogant/whatever to call in sick, so I've been going in to work and sitting there doing the bare minimum to still be considered functionally alive.  I finally went in to the doctor yesterday, and he claimed I have pneumonia--hence, the rumors of my poor bed-ridden state thanks to the wonders of Facebook friends.

So, yeah, he was wrong, and I'm certain of it.  For one thing, he started by dismissing the fact that my blood counts were normal.  Elevated white blood cell count is one of the hallmark differences between pneumonia and bronchitis.  Instead, he focused on the X-ray which showed a lightness in one spot, but I also forgot to tell him about a previous case of Valley Fever that was the main reason I left Phoenix in '95 (and often leaves scars behind in the lungs).  So--yeah, I have bronchitis, but it was amusing to walk in to greet the receptionist who looked like she'd seen a ghost.

Doesn't really matter.  The treatment for bronchitis is antibiotics and rest.  The treatment for pneumonia is antibiotics and rest.  I went home with antibiotics, so all is well.  

Anyway--speaking of ghosts--time to count up the entries for the contest I ran starting 11/22.  Remember that one, where I said that every mention of my book got you an entry in a drawing to name a future character?  Well, I'm in the final stages of planning that next book out, and so it's past time that I figure out what the names are going to be.  That said, it was a really tough thing to determine how many entries people get.  I'm copying the count below, alphabetized by first name.  A couple of you went to town mentioning me all over the place, and several people were wonderful and mentioned me once.  I can't claim perfection as a trait, though so I'll give everyone till Monday, December 19, to let me know if I've missed something. 

Here is what I have:

Akiotena – 4

Amanda Folk - 1

Amanda Little - 1

Birch Wood - 1

Corey King - 1

Cricket Walker - 1

Heather Andrews - 1

Hillary Hodges - 1

Jolinda Clapp - 1

JT Lewis - 1

Linna Drehmel – 8

Rebecca Hogg – 2

Sean Grande - 1

Sue Darby – 18

Tami Grande - 1

Let me know by 5 PM EST Monday and I'll hold the drawing Monday evening.

Good luck!

-TOSK