When good intentions collide head-on with the reality of adverse circumstances, good intentions almost always come out the big loser. To make the point, I’ll cite an example from recent personal experience. While my intention was to do all the things I’d committed to do, the reality was that a sudden downturn in my health—not life-threatening, but life-complicating—forced me to suspend most of my writing activities for the duration. The net result is that I inadvertently ended up screwing the pooch on many of my projects—none of which were more important than my obligation to read and review Portland novelist Bill Cameron’s excellent new thriller, Day One. Oh, the reading part of that project got done in a timely enough fashion; it was the written part of it—you know, the actual review—that couldn’t seem to get written. And for the longest time, it didn’t.
For missing the publishing date, for the long delay in getting my review posted, for missing his book signing at Murder by the Book, I owe Bill Cameron apology on top of apology. Well, Mr. Cameron shall have his apologies (I’m truly sorry, Bill, on all counts), and I shall come away from this debacle thoroughly humbled and with yet another lesson in the application of Murphy’s Law as a permanent part of my résumé.
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