Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Your Personal Fairy

I am enjoying the comments on the Five Year Celebration and a Giveaway post. You still have time to leave a comment on that post for the giveaway, as it ends February 26, at 6 P.M. Pacific Standard Time.

I am rereading How to Ditch Your Fairy, by Justine Larbalestier. I have a signed paperback copy from when Larbalestier visited the Seattle area last winter. The main character lives in a region of the world called New Avalon (not-United States/ not-Australia) where everyone has a fairy. Some people have common loose-change finding fairies, while others are lucky enough to have never-have-bad-hair fairies or always-know-what-your-children-are-up-to fairies. Charlie is a 14 year old girl at a sports school who has a parking fairy. She hates having everyone make her ride along with them to find the best parking spots, and starts walking everywhere in the hopes of "ditching" her fairy.

Rereading the book just begs for a discussion about personal fairies. Larbalestier posted a few responses from different writer colleagues and there have been lots from readers. I've decided that if I have a personal fairy, it must be a gift-giving fairy. It's not a 100 percent reliable, but I have a high success rate for finding the right gift for a friend or family member. I cheat a little, too: I have a hidden box filled with things I've tucked away for when they're needed.

If you had a personal fairy, what would its specialty be?

5 comments:

Charlotte said...

My personal fairy looks after my wallet, so that when it falls out of my pocket, it falls out on my own doorstep; when I put it down in the grocery store, and walk away from it, no one steals it, or its contents; when I leave it on the roof of the car, it comes off in my own driveway...etc.

It is good that I have this fairy, but sad that I need it...

Lone Star Ma said...

Oh, gosh - I don't think you'd want me to post it on your blog(:

Jules at 7-Imp said...

My personal fairy does none other than makes coffee for me or cleans, since housework is the devil. But, yeesh, now I've kinda made her a servant, which is not cool. And she won't like that, so she'll put something in my coffee.

I like your idea. May I steal it? I love finding just the right gift for someone. And, yes, *you're* very good at that!

Saints and Spinners said...

Charlotte: What a benevolent fairy you have! I have a friend who must also have a wallet-fairy. She once met me for coffee and told me that she couldn't find her wallet. She was pretty resigned, and meanwhile, I was the one having kittens. I searched all over for it, and couldn't find it. Her wallet fairy did, though.

LoneStarMa: Oh, sing it, sister! You've got a "Bountiful Nursing" fairy, don't you. :)

Jules: Yes, it's important not to take advantage of the coffee/housework fairy. I don't suppose she'd help me out in the housework dept. The main character's best friend in HTDYF has a clothes-shopping fairy who sometimes helps out the best friend's friends-- but never when it rains.

kmcnay said...

My personal fairies are:

Idea Fairy- that well is never dry!

Connection Fairy- if you look closely, you can see the web, but most would see a mass of silk threads!

Oooo, Pretty- Captcha! Fairy- always finds the pretty and wants me to capture and hold on to it whether through a bookmark, tearing the page out of the magazine before I recycle it, or hoarding- lots of hoarding going on here!

I think I must find ways to show them how much I appreciate them! I think they must believe I am a muse to need so much inspiration, which does seem to be piling up in what used to be the nooks and crannies and is now overflowing around the house & stored away in bins I am afraid to open! Hmmm, must put some of it to good use. ;)

Kerrie