I'm sure I'll talk much more about this later.

But my first reaction to tonight's presidential debate was about missed opportunities. I wanted Obama to hammer him. McCain said several things where I saw lies and and misrepresentations and all the same old John McCain things.

And then Barack would just kind of smile and say, "Well, John...That's not quite accurate."

It frustrated me. But then I remembered something. This is the one that McCain was supposed to win hands down. This was his strength. And if McCain was going to change the state of the race, he needed to score big tonight. He didn't.

In most polls, in this immediate and therefore incomplete aftermath, Obama is being said to have won a small victory. The one I have seen remarked upon the most actually has him with a very small margin over a tie, but a larger one over a McCain win. 40% Obama, 38% tie, 22% McCain.

But the things is, this was the foreign policy debate. This is the area where McCain's experience helps the most, this was the debate where the Obama camp worried about getting blown out. This was the one were McCain was expected to swing for the fences and maybe hit a grand slam.

And 78% of those polled thought it was pretty close or an Obama win.

That's significant. And the next debate? Palin vs. Biden. If she can't respond to Katie Couric, how is she gonna handle Joe Biden? Show him her swimsuit video?

A tie is a win, in this case.

We got word today that <a href="http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/produ...">Artifactual:Tales of the Erotique Mystique</a> is a finalist for the <a href="http://www.dream-realm-awards.net/20...">2007 Dream Realm Awards</a>!

It's always wonderful to have your hard work recognized and since this book is very dear to my heart, that made it even more special. It also makes me want to curse the people at Romantic Times who thought it was a good idea to assign the review of a book featuring a crusading hypocritical far right wing faux Christian as a villain to a woman who typically reviews "inspirational romance" but I've let go of that frustration. Oh, wait. Okay, maybe I haven't. *wink*

<a href="http://www.catherinesnodgrass.com/Ca...">Caitlyn Willows</a> is one of our fellow finalists. We met Caitlyn at Epicon, and I like her. But I hope she will forgive me for saying that I would really like to win. I know, it's not cool to say that. Let me get my cliche cap on...

It's a thrill just to be nominated. In a field of such strong performances, I am happy just to be mentioned in the company of my fellow nominees. The satisfaction of my work is in my own personal growth.

Nah. Sorry, can't pull it off. I hope we win. I do feel it is an honor to have been named a finalist and I am very proud and pleased. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't rather be a gracious winner than a gracious loser.