By the way, the title is 'Make Nice'

It's official: I'm not getting that job I interviewed for last week. The woman called today and we had a nice face-saving conversation all around. Which is so important in business.

That means I'm free for the rest of the year to finish my book. That makes me so happy. I've never had this kind of freedom in my life -- several weeks of severance, followed by months of unemployment. I feel like I won the lottery. I know that's not the way you're supposed to feel when you lose your job. Indeed, everyone I tell about the layoff has been perfectly willing to commiserate with me, until I tell them I look on it as a good thing. And maybe I won't feel this way for long. If Cris were to lose her job, that would certainly change my tune. But til then, you're looking at the latest and most grateful recipient of the Tech Bust Literary Prize for Halfway-Finished Novels.