As the publication date approaches of Zero, I find myself thinking about my math phobia. I know there are going to be questions as my "condition" is mentioned in the official publisher's press release. First, however, I want to thank the second graders who are teaching me strategies to work with my affliction. Most of them, thankfully, are free of this problem.

To this day, when I hand over a twenty to pay for an item, if someone were to say "What should the change be?"- I will panic. Any knowledge I have of how numbers and money works will immediately morph into a foreign language I have never heard. The blood will flood from my face, a 'deer in the headlight' look will shoot from my eyes, and my tongue will turn to stone. A blubbering idiot, I will quickly grab the receipt and change, clench my fist around them, stuff it in my pocket and quickly take the nearest escape route. Pathetic.

Another painful scenerio. We stop at a gas station on a trip. Unfortunately, I often seem to ride with gas mileage watchers who make it an extreme sport! Gas is pumped, odometer reading written down, number of gallons bought written down, paper handed to me - What is the mileage? See reactions above - followed by my comment - "Does it matter - we got here?"

In my defense - when left in isolation my math brain works just fine. I design and make quilts which are all based on math, I play the piano daily which requires understanding fractions in time and now I seem to be writing stories to help children understand and enjoy math. Go figure.

So please - read my books, snuggle under my quilts, but don't ask me how much change I should receive or how many miles per gallon my Beetle bug gets. Blue one!