Yeah, I thought about the "get noticed" aspect as a gut reaction, too. The part about her friend buying the cards is well explained in her blog, and has been discussed to death all over the place. Believe what you will, they claim it was coincidence and unplanned that the friend won the auction--the friend's first bid was the winning bid, so she didn't drive up the price. She gave the friend the cards but didn't cash the check.

I think she's a really talented writer, too.

Karen