Goodbye, Lucky Writing Chair

So, it turns out that I'm rough on furniture--chairs, specifically. Allow me to present Exhibit A, my writing chair for the past year.

It was in perfectly good condition when I took it from the dining room to replace my old desk chair, which looked a lot like the one above, if you can picture it with a leg falling off.

I know, it's not pretty, but this is bound to happen when you log lots of hours at the computer, right? You mean it's just me? Oh.

Anyway, I knew the chair was looking shabby, but it still functioned. It had been with me through a couple of manuscripts, supporting me in good times and bad. It might have even been a little lucky. (Not that I'm superstitious.) We writers can't just toss aside something as important as a chair without giving it serious thought. Right? Just me again? Huh.

Well, today my husband and son surprised me with an early Christmas present:

I was very touched. And very skeptical. I mean, it's so pretty. A chair this perfect is like a heroine without a flaw--lacking character. This is not some fru-fru decoration for a showroom. I need something tough (obviously.)

But seeing as my husband braved the mall on the weekend after Thanksgiving, I figured the least I could do was give the new chair a try, so I did.

I'm happy to report that it's surprisingly comfortable. It doesn't rain little bits of foam on the floor each time I stand. Best of all, it has some decent mojo. I got my daily words done, no problem.

So, I'm saying goodbye to my old lucky writing chair. Here's hoping that the new one is just as lucky.

And a whole lot tougher than it looks.

What do you think? Want to take bets on how long the new chair will last? What's your lucky item?

Come On, Lucky Seven

I'm not a superstitious sort.

Sure, I have my lucky writing pants and my lucky chair (which is falling apart, but that's a story for another post). And I have a lucky necklace that I wear when I need an extra bit of confidence. But the logical side of my brain knows that these objects merely provide a modicum of comfort. They do not possess supernatural powers, nor do they influence the outcome of events in my life.

Or do they? Dang it, I hope I didn't just jinx myself.

Here's the thing. For the past eight weeks, I've been working on revisions to Midnight Promises. Today, as I polished the last scene, I happened to look down at my page and word count:

Pages: 377

Words: 77,777

I almost fell off my lucky writing chair. What are the odds of having that number as my final word count? And what does it mean?

I'd like to think it's a sign. A sign that something really wonderful will happen. But the truth is, it's just a freakish coincidence, and I shouldn't read too much into it.

I will not get hung up on the numbers. If I need to add thirteen words (a very unlucky number) to my story, I will do it.

And then I'll find a way to delete thirteen others.