carry me home tonight

I had way too lazy of a day...there are a million things I feel like I need to do, and when I'm in that mode, I often shut down and stop working entirely. Sadness. I didn't wake up until almost eleven, and then I messed around and made some breakfast (v. yummy eggs) before spending a couple of hours starting to proofread the final version of SCOTSMEN. I eventually had to put it aside, though, so that I could get ready and venture out into the evil city; there were three or four different things that I was invited to today, but I prioritized Lauren (aka Subz) and the trunk show she hosted for her sister's charity. The charity (anchalproject.org) sells quilts made in India to provide support for the women who make the quilts and also to raise money for improving women's lives (I can't explain it well, I'm too tired, and really, we all know they had me at quilt).

I went over to Lauren's around 4:30 and stayed until after seven, which was longer than I intended to stay (see: the need to proofread + my lack of desire to do anything productive). But Katrina came too, and it was all quite lovely, and I caught up with some of Lauren's other friends, as well as Lauren's mom. And I got some mehndi done (henna tattoos, for those of you who aren't down with the lingo) -- the mehndi artist was great. She mixed her own henna with black tea and other stuff, so the henna smells like spices rather than rotting vegetable matter, which makes me v. happy. And I got to hang out with Lauren, which always makes me happy. I was even happy when she and her sister (who is her identical twin, fyi) conducted a full-court press to get me to buy a quilt at the very end. I had been tempted by one earlier, but left it aside since I have like ten Indian bedspreads (and had told Lauren repeatedly that I certainly don't need any more Indian bedspreads). But Lauren knew exactly which one, of all of them, I would have been likely to buy, and she brought it over and draped it on me, and then Devon (the sister) talked it up too, and then they both looked at me, and then I said that they were like pushers offering drugs to a known addict, which made them laugh even as they knew they had me in their clutches. So I bought the damn thing, and it's gorgeous and is in support of a good cause, so I don't actually regret it -- but really, I need more bedding like I need a hole in the head. I know, I'm crazy.

Post relapse, I gathered up my quilt and came home, where Terry and I watched the end of the Ohio State/Kansas game, then ordered takeout Indian food (ironic, since one of the other plans I skipped would have involved Indian food, and Lauren was serving Indian food as well) and watched the finale of "Project Runway All Stars" from a couple of weeks ago, followed by "New Girl." And now I need to sleep, or proofread, or brainstorm the gargoyles, or answer the hundreds of emails that are piling up...really, the list is endless. Goodnight!

the city never sleeps better slip you an ambien

I survived last night, which is awesome; I did find myself covered in bruises this morning, but I was expecting that, since I tripped on the escalator at the movie theatre last night (my uggs are both unfashionable and prone to tripping me up) and immediately bruised both knees and one shin. Oops. Anyway, I woke up at eight, drank some water and popped some Aleve, and went back to bed until 10:30. Then I stayed in bed until almost one p.m. doing some work, mostly because I didn't really want to leave bed and confront the messy kitchen. But eventually my need for caffeine overcame my distate for the dishes, so I went downstairs and cleaned up. Luckily, as I mentioned last night, my friends (and particularly Rat) had helped to clean up already, so I really just need to wash the cooking pots/pans, the wine glasses, and the serving dishes, then run the dishwasher and scrub down the counters. Easy peasy.

I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening alternating between napping and brainstorming the non-gargoyle book, which I shouldn't be doing -- there are a million other things on my to-do list that are more pressing, but I'm brainstorming whichever book I feel like brainstorming on a given day, and today was all about gargoyles. I did take a break to have dinner with Terry and her brother Kevin, which was nice; they went to see "Hunger Games" after dinner, but I stayed home and napped/brainstormed some more. The back story for the swords in my book is starting to come together, which is exciting...but I will say no more about that. I spent the last hour or so talking to Terry and Kevin about the movie, but now I'm going to brainstorm just a bit more, then go to bed. Tomorrow I need to proofread SCOTSMEN, since we got the proof copy back today...wish me luck! Goodnight!

i'm glad you came

Hello, alcohol, my old friend. Let's just get that out of the way - I'm buzzed, and am likely to remain that way until well into the morning. Now let's see how I do on my blog post!

The day started off in quite a sedate and challenging way - I woke up at eight so that I could make my flourless chocolate cake in time for it to chill sufficiently in the refrigerator. As you might imagine, that was tricky, since I'm not at my best at eight a.m., but I somehow managed to pull it together. The cleaning lady showed up while I was baking the cake, which is the ultimate #firstworldproblem, so I had to mess around downstairs while she cleaned my bathroom, since I couldn't shower until she was finished. How annoying, right?!?!

sssanyway, I showered in time to drive downtown, where I went to Crate and Barrel and bought some fresh tealights and votives, etc. Then I went to Samovar and worked for an hour on Nick and Ellie's story while eating some jook (an abomination that I never would have eaten in Iowa, since it's rice custard, smoked salmon, sriracha, etc., none of which I ate at home) and drinking some chai (also not an Iowa beverage, since it doesn't seem to contain Lipton tea). Ellie and Nick continue to develop, which is quite satisfying; I live in hope that they will treat me better than my previous books, but I doubt it. Then I went to my salon and got my bangs trimmed and my eyebrows waxed; both my stylist and my waxer were astonished at how quickly my hair grows, and while they tried to treat it like a blessing, it's clear they think that I'm a mutant. Sigh.

Post-grooming, I bought groceries, then came home and prepared for my dinner party. My friend Rat kind of invited himself over, but since I hadn't had anyone over in awhile, I was quite happy to indulge him. So Rat, Tom, Adit, and Priyanka came over tonight, and I made risotto al barolo (a Mario Batali recipe for risotto with onion, parmesan, and red wine) and truffle butter pasta (which I can't eat, but I love the risotto, so screw the pasta). I also made a salad with candied walnuts, dried cranberries, and gorgonzola, which was delish, and I spread out some peppers, carrots, and celery with hummus. And there was that awesome flourless chocolate cake, with vanilla ice cream...and two bottles of red wine...and after Tom's pronouncement that the Catholic church would be dead within the century, I had several Hemingway daiquiris, which is both my joy and my downfall.

So a good time was had by all, I think, and everyone helped clean up, which was lovely. Then I got conned into going to see "The Hunger Games" with Priyanka and Adit -- I wasn't going to go, but when I learned that this particular theatre serves alcohol, I was all in. So we drove to the Kabuki, bought a bottle of malbec, and got into our seats just in time to see Katniss be reaped -- yay. I loved the movie, all in all, and now I shall go to sleep, and my alcohol-infused dreams will hopefully be all about my secret non-gargoyle young adult book, which I think could rival "The Hunger Games" (at least on nights like tonight, when I'm too drunk to be modest -- sorry, kids). Goodnight!

we'll keep all our promises, be us against the world

I'm super sleepy...shouldn't have had glutenified pizza for dinner, but I couldn't resist the magic of Dominos (how often are those words uttered by sober people?). Today was lovely and quite productive; I was out of bed by nine, which is a minor miracle, and managed to shower, gather a bunch of things for errands I needed to run, etc., before meeting up with Priyanka at Morning Due. We chatted for just a bit, since I hadn't seen her or Adit in over a month (shocking), and ate our breakfast/lunch, and then ignored each other while working. I spent my morning writing a blog post for the Rubies, which luckily didn't take too awfully long, and I wrapped it up just before my parking window ended. Then I packed my bag, said goodbye to Priyanka, and drove to the glorious south bay.

I know, I said I was breaking up with Alyssa so I didn't have to drive down anymore, but I'd made plans for tonight in Sunnyvale ages ago and couldn't reschedule them again. So I drove down when the traffic was easy, went to the post office to mail some giveaway books, got my oil changed, and hung out at Philz for a couple of hours, where I got quite a bit of administrivia done. Then I went to Sunnyvale, where I finally met Natasha and Chris's baby -- I haven't seen them in ages, mostly because they had a baby and I moved to the city and never the twain shall meet, but since I went over at five I was able to meet the baby before he went to bed, and then we ordered pizza and hung out and caught up on life, all of which made me v. happy. I need to spend more time with those kids -- parenthood hasn't made them any less awesome, and I miss them.

I finally left there at nine, drove home (with a stop at Safeway to buy ingredients for a flourless chocolate cake I was going to bake tonight, but I'm out of energy), and spent a couple of hours chatting with a surprisingly-awake Terry (we are usually on schedules that are ~3hrs out of sync, so she's usually in bed if I get home after ten). And now I must sleep; my teamaker is making tea for me at 8:15am so that I can wake up while baking this cake, and then I need to do a ton of stuff (both writing related and non) throughout the day. Goodnight!

my darling, you are wonderful tonight

I was quite deliciously lazy today; I slept until eleven, which was delightful. After I showered, I went downstairs and discovered that Terry had come home sick (sadness), so I talked to her for a bit before eating some leftover salad and working on a guest blog post that I needed to write today. At some point we went to the grocery store together since we were both out of food, and then we came home and I finished my guest blog post (thank goodness; if you want to read it, it's linked through my romance site's press section, as usual). Then I went downstairs again and made some chai, which I proceeded to enjoy while watching tv with Terry and answering email in an utterly desultory fashion. We watched the season premiere of "Mad Men", then the first half of the "Project Runway: All Stars" finale, so that was all quite enjoyable.

But eventually I had to get dressed in something other than sweats, since I had plans tonight -- and so I put on a dress, leggings, a sweater, and some makeup and strolled out into the rain to meet up with Jenni at a wine bar on Polk Street. I walked there and back, which was good for my exercise goals but bad for my dryness goals, given the rain -- but the rain wasn't heavy, just persistent, and so while my skirt got a little wet, I'm certainly not going to die from it. However, Jenni's shuttle was extremely delayed, so I spent twenty minutes or so drinking wine by myself and brainstorming about Nick and Ellie (good thing I took my notebook). When she got there, we enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine and split a cheese/charcuterie platter, which was totally awesome; we had three cheeses and a bunch of different cold cut meats, with honey, apricot jam, applesauce, mustard, olives, etc. I love my vegetarian friends, but it was lovely to eat charcuterie instead of roughage. And it was great to see Jenni; I haven't seen her by herself in ages, so we had a lot to catch up on, and it was awesome.

We parted ways around 9ish, and I walked home (still in the rain) and messed around online. Then I spent the past forty-five minutes or so continuing to brainstorm Nick and Ellie -- it's an interesting plotting/character development experience because I have to plot out both what is happening "now" (winter/spring of 1813) and what happened when they originally fell in love (over the course of several seasons between 1800 and 1803). It's a super tricky book to write because they have so much shared history, and I have to allude to that shared history in a way that enriches the story without dwelling too much, and also in a way that makes it realistic that they would fall in love again when they're both trying desperately to be totally over each other. But I think I'm getting to the point where I'm ready to start writing again...so we'll see whether they're nice to me or whether I want to kill them off and start anew with Prudence (which I won't do; I have to write them regardless of whether they're nice to me or not).

Okay, the end of the blog for tonight; I must sleep, perchance to accomplish something tomorrow. Goodnight!

when a heart breaks well it don't break even

For once I have two important things to share with you! Prepare yourself!


The first is my Authors@Google talk from two weeks ago, for those of you who want to watch the interview and listen to what I had to say about writing, self-publishing, romance, etc: 

It was quite fun to do, and I thought it went really well - so yay to that.


The second is that I broke up with Alyssa today. It was v. v. difficult, partially because I love her and partially because my preferred method of breaking up is to stop talking to someone and ignore all attempts to contact me until the other person gets the hint. Bad Sara, I know. But it just doesn't make sense to keep driving down to Palo Alto so often, particularly when I end up eating out every time I'm there and negating the benefit of working out, and spending less time enjoying myself in the city, etc., etc. These are all totally valid reasons and I've thought about this for a long time before pulling the trigger, but that didn't make it any easier to tell her.


But I did tell her, and she took it well (at least to my face), although we agreed to get together in a month and see how I'm doing and whether it makes sense to try something else (either setting me up with a trainer up here, or doing something long-distance with her- this does sound like a relationship, doesn't it?). But I'm glad I had the conversation with her, even though I will miss her tremendously. So I'm in mourning now, but hopefully some writing time in the city over the next few weeks will help me get over it.


After the breakup, we worked out for half an hour (awkward). Then I showered and drove to my old place of employment, where I had lunch with Gyre, which was great (and he had me sign a copy of my book for his team, who has been taking turns reading it and then reporting back to him on the dirty bits, which is hilarious to me). Then I hung out at Philz for awhile, and then Starbucks for awhile, generally playing online and following romance news, since today was the day that RITA and Golden Heart finalists were announced and so there was a storm of news and gossip going on.


Eventually, though, I abandoned the laptop and had a lovely, hilarious dinner with Heather (aka dear respected madam), followed by an equally lovely, hilarious free tea with her back at her office. We finally parted ways around nine, and I drove back to the evil city and spent the last couple of hours catching up on stuff. And now I need to go to bed so that I can hit it hard tomorrow -- goodnight!

i know i gave it to you months ago

I need to go to bed immediately; Alyssa moved me to ten a.m. tomorrow, which is good because it means I can have lunch with Gyre after, but is bad because it's ten a.m. Today was fine, though; I slept in, woke up feeling much better than yesterday, showered, made myself some delicious eggs, watched some basketball, and bailed on today's original plan (which was to see The Hunger Games -- I want to see it, but wasn't feeling it today). So I did some work this afternoon, then hung out with Katrina and Chandlord at Flybar, where I was good and skipped the alcohol in favor of a salad (although I think I got a real coke instead of a diet coke, but I didn't send it back, so whatever). After that, I came home, talked to the parents, did some more work, watched some tv with Terry (New Girl and Amazing Race, which was truly amazing tonight). And then I worked until now, fueled by some black tea, so we'll see what I dream of in my caffeinated slumber.

Sorry for being boring tonight...the boredom is going to increase, I'm afraid. My week of fun is over, and while it was definitely fun, I need to get some serious shit done this week. I way overcommitted to guest blog posts, so there's that, and I should get the formatted version of SCOTSMEN back any day now, which means I'll need to drop everything to proofread it. And I really should be starting MARQUESS (which I am, although I haven't started writing new pages yet, just background notes). I also have plans every night this week...oops. I shall persevere, but I must sleep now -- goodnight!

now you're just somebody that i used to know

I felt fairly hideous for most of the day, but I managed to rally and stick to my external plans, even if I spent the afternoon alternating between procrastinating at my desk and taking a two hour nap. My first plan was a friendship renewal brunch in a v. special location (San Francisco instead of Mountain View) and with a v. special guest (Lizzie, who now lives in Seattle). Sarah also came, which was awesome since I hadn't seen her (other than at my talk) in a year, which is unforgivable given how much I like her and the fact that we actually live in the same city now instead of on separate continents. Tolu and his wife Kristina came up from the south bay, and Jane came as well, so the six of us went to Chow (the restaurant close to where Adit and I used to live; we took my dad there pre-India in 2010). It was all quite lovely, and I'm glad I rallied...

...and then I came home and slowly crashed again, and ended up taking a nap from 4:30 to 6. I sat around drinking tea and feeling sorry for myself, but I rallied again just in time, and put on a dress, refreshed my makeup, picked up Chandlord, and went to the dirty, dirty Mission to have dinner with Katrina and her parents. The Mission may be dirtier than the Marina, but the food is generally better, and tonight was no exception -- Katrina had made reservations at Range, which was absolutely fantastic. I had an El Floridita cocktail (their version of a Hemingway daiquiri), a bit of Katrina's scallop appetizer, an amazing roast chicken with pancetta and potatoes (I normally don't order chicken at restaurants since it seems like a waste when I could have steak or pork or rabbit or anything else, but this was really a fantastic dish), and a bit of the flourless chocolate souffle we ordered at the end. Oh, and the company was great too; I'd never met Katrina's parents before, but they were delightful, and we ended up spending three and a half hours at the restaurant, which was fun.

Post restaurant, I dropped everyone off at their respective hotels/apartments, then came home and spent the past half hour catching up on the internet (mostly my sales rankings, which have slipped since launch but are still respectable -- we'll see what happens when SCOTSMEN comes out soon). And now I should really sleep so that I can make it to tomorrow's plans, which involve seeing the Hunger Games movie in the afternoon...wish me luck! Goodnight!

you know i could stay here all night

I was going to go to bed two hours ago, but I got distracted by Facebook -- work on Facebook, not play (although I realize those lines blur pretty frequently given that my social networking is both necessary and the ultimate form of procrastination). I turned my Sara Ramsey profile into a page last night and now I wish I had done it sooner; as much as I like to hate on Facebook, the page is better suited for what I need to do in terms of building connections to readers, and now that I'm getting it set up properly I can see more potential and possibilities for promo activities there. Sigh.

Anyway, today was good, albeit quite lazy. I got the preview link to my Authors@Google talk on Youtube this morning, and I proceeded to watch the whole thing not once, not twice, but three times. Yes, I'm that narcissistic. The third time I had it playing in the background while I took care of stuff around my room, but still. I've just never had the opportunity to play back any speaking of mine over the length of an actual talk, beyond the introductions and brief presos I occasionally gave during work that were taped. So the first time I watched it I was just enjoying it/waiting to see if I said anything horribly embarrassing (I didn't), while the second and third times were more of a critique/consideration of what worked and what I maybe would change for future appearances. I have to do a reading at the romance event I'm going to in Denver in a couple of weeks, so seeing this talk was a good confidence booster. And I'm hopeful that my agent and publicist and I can use it to get some coverage on bigger romance blogs, but we'll see. I'll post it for your viewing pleasure (although I doubt you'll want to watch it three times) when I have the official link.

I didn't get dressed until 3:30, but I made up for it by putting on a cute outfit, doing my makeup and hair (I know I'm ridiculous), and going to Starbucks, where I wrote for an hour or so. I didn't write stuff directly for the book, but I'm working through Nick and Ellie's back stories, and I wrote another five pages of back story tonight, which was v. v. helpful. Then I came home, ate supper with Terry while watching some basketball and some Project Runway (we still haven't gotten to the finale, although we both know who is in the final three), and then came upstairs and finished the book that I started last night. Then I wrote for awhile, as I mentioned, and then I got sucked into Facebook. Boo.

Now, though, I should really sleep; I have both brunch and dinner plans tomorrow, and since I've been a complete recluse since Tuesday night, I should give myself some time to acclimate to people in the morning. Goodnight!

you better run for the hills before they burn

I really am trying to avoid staying up all night finishing the book I started, v. ill-advisedly, at 10:30pm...perhaps I will overcome my usual tendencies after all. I'm just tired enough that I may succeed, but we shall see. I spent the day engaged in all manner of desultory tasks, and I finished cleaning my room, which made me inordinately happy. Now my bookshelves are in perfect order, my files and notebooks and little scraps of inspiration for the three or four different books I'm currently considering are all rounded up and organized, and my bedding is switched to something else (although now that I've switched it, I kind of wish I'd left it alone). Then I spent the early evening eating chili and watching basketball until Terry came home. She was followed an hour or so later by her fried Ali, who was one of her drawmates during my junior year when I was the RA in Mirlo and they were sophomores who didn't belong in that scene. I haven't kept in touch with Ali, but it was great to see her, and we sat around and drank wine and talked for a couple of hours, which counts as fun in my book.

Eventually, though, it was time for all of us to go to bed, and so Ali left, Terry went to sleep, and I crawled into bed with TIMELESS, the final book in the absurd steampunk series I've been reading. I've been reading two steampunk series, actually; this one is the longer series that went way off into a frothy display of absurdity, while the other series (THE IRON DUKE and HEART OF STEEL) is a bit grittier and way sexier. The author of TIMELESS spoke at the romance event I went to in Long Beach a few weeks ago, and I really adore her even if these books aren't precisely my cup of tea. But her next series is going to focus on the daughter of the couple in these books, which I think will make for a v. interesting story, so we'll see what happens with that.

And now, I must go to bed and ignore the seductive allure of the half-finished book sitting on my pillow. Goodnight!

here's something that you're never gonna forget

The title is definitely false advertising - you'll probably forget this even before you've finished reading the post. One might ask why I'm continuing to write, then, but if you're asking that question after all the years I've been blogging, you're in the wrong place.

Anyway, today's entry in my week of fun may not have looked like fun to an outsider. The first part was admittedly fun fun -- I wandered down the street, had a late breakfast more blocks from my house than I usually go, and reread everything I've written of Ellie and Nick's story so far (and I didn't hate it, so there's something positive for the day). Then I went to Sephora because I was out of foundation, but I made the mistake of letting someone make me over, and that someone happened to be the district trainer, who was v. good and upsold me on a more expensive foundation + primer, etc. Oops. I did look lovely though, even if my made-up face looked ridiculous with my unwashed hair and hoodie get-up.

Then I came home, and my afternoon went sideways into my version of fun -- reorganizing my bookshelves and notebooks. I can and did spend hours doing this, and my bookshelves look great, although I still need to clean up all the paper and notebook bits off the floor. Sometime around 6:30 I was too hungry to continue, so I reheated the chili I made the other night -- and then Terry came home, and I drank half a bottle of the wine I'd opened the other night, which made me a little tipsy. Then I spent the past few hours doing promo-related stuff for HEIRESS (which, fyi, is only $1.99 on Kindle and Nook for the next couple of weeks in preparation for SCOTSMEN's launch - so if you were waiting to buy it, now's the time!).

And now I really must sleep, and try to come up with something fun to do tomorrow. Read a book? Go to a museum? Organize the downstairs closet? The possibilities are endless!

it's all in your face, i see you break

My week of fun continues...although today wasn't pure fun, given that I had to go to the dentist. Still, all things considered the day was lovely. I spent a desultory morning hanging around the place, then went down to San Jose to the dentist (since I'm still using the dentist I started seeing years ago when I lived farther south - there's no point in switching when I only go twice a year). I got a clean bill of health, with no cavities at all (again). Then I went to Target, where I stocked up on supplies (since y'all know I like to be well-supplied) and got possibly the worst Starbucks drink I've ever had the misfortune of drinking.

Post Target, I had intended to go to a cafe and work until dinner, but my dinner date was Heather (aka dear respected madam), and she said I was welcome to go to her house and hang out with Salim until she got home. Theoretically I could have worked there, but since I'm under an Alyssa-mandated fun ordinance, I instead chatted with Salim, then watched an episode of Archer and part of "Sin City". When Heather got home, all three of us went out for dinner...and the place was absolutely fantastic. It's called Naglee Park Garage, and it looks utterly unassuming -- the inside space is tiny, like a garage, and most of the seating is outside. But their menu is surprisingly fancy and changes regularly; right now it's Mardi Gras inspired, and so I had a stuffed pork and andouille sausage dish that was incredible, while Salim had a rabbit and andouille jambalaya that was also amazing, and Heather had a burger and some of the best sweet potato fries I've ever had. So that was all super fun, and I'm glad I got to spend some quality time with them (over amazing food, of course).

Post dinner, we went back to their house and Salim watched tv while Heather and I talked about dirty books and she read part of the super secret gargoyles manuscript on my laptop. I need to write the rest of it right now, apparently. Then I came home, spent the last hour procrastinating, and now need to go to bed.

But before I forget, one other piece of exciting news -- I got the proof copy of SCOTSMEN in the mail today! It's not ready for publication, since I'll have to proofread and reupload later, but this copy is a proof of what I intend to order to send to reviewers (what's known as an advanced reader copy, or ARC), and for that purpose, it looks fabulous. So I got those copies ordered tonight, then promptly decided to ignore the rest of my to-do list until morning.

And so now I should go to bed so that I can accomplish more fun tomorrow -- goodnight!

we'll wrap the world around it

Today was lovely - I made it down to Palo Alto in time to see Alyssa, and at the end of our workout she ordered me to take the next week off and just have fun. Easier said than done, given my workaholic nature, but I'm trying. So I had lunch at Joanie's, ran a bunch of non-fun errands (like mailing a bunch of giveaway books, dropping off my tax forms at my CPA's, etc.), grabbed some coffee, drove back to the evil city, and bought groceries. Then I spent the evening having my version of fun -- which basically meant I made chili, opened a bottle of wine, and listened to several lectures from a class called "The Terror of History: Mystics, Heretics, and Witches in the Western Tradition". If you guessed I'm researching the gargoyle book, you win one thousand wampbucks.

But now, I think I shall continue my fun and go to bed; you can laugh at how much of a dork I am on your own time. Goodnight!

the bleeding love, the silent escape

I meant to be in bed ages ago -- this is the price of procrastinating, since there were so many things I didn't want to do today. I woke up around 9:15 (actually, I woke up at 8 to the sound of our neighbors moving out, but I pretended that I could still sleep despite the racket), got all dolled up, and eventually dragged Terry out for brunch. We went farther down Union than we usually do, to an area that I never explore (since I either stay within two blocks of the house, go to Fort Mason, or drive to another neighborhood entirely). The brunch took much longer than it should have, but the place was totally cute and it was good to spend some quality time with Terry before she travels for the next couple of days.

When we got home, I took care of some various and minor annoyances before leaving again to go to a different neighborhood (Hayes Valley) to get a drink with Katrina, Chandlord, and Katrina's friend Julie. On my way I talked to my parents, who were in good form despite the insanely warm weather in Iowa and the fact that Iowa State is out of the tournament. I'm jealous of their weather for once -- it was fifty degrees here with a bitter wind, which none of us are used to. After hanging up, I went to the bar, which was my kind of scene -- books everywhere, and fancy cocktails with entertaining names. Iowans will be thrilled to know that one of the cocktails specifically featured Templeton rye, since it's kinda a big deal amongst the hipster bartenders these days. I confined myself to a single Irish coffee, which I nursed over the next couple of hours (along with some awesome french fries, don't tell Alyssa).

After we finished, I took Chandlord home, then came back to my own abode, then drove Terry out into the cold to pick up salads from a takeout salad place in the heart of the Marina (which was pretty dead today, since it was too cold for all the hungover kids to drag themselves out of bed after yesterday's madness). When we got home, I spent some quality time on the phone with Katie, whom I will see in only a couple of weeks!!

Post Katie, I ate my salad, watched the second half of the Florida State/Cincinnati game with Terry, and then packed up a bunch of book giveaways and wrote some emails and wrote a guest blog post and generally hated everything on my to-do list.....and break. I wrote all this at midnight, which was still a respectable time to go to bed; now it's almost one a.m., since there were several more things I realized that I needed to do, and time got away from me. Bleh. So now I must be off to bed; I'm training with Alyssa tomorrow, so I need all the sleep I can get. Goodnight!

the pipes, the pipes are calling

People drunker and less hermity than me are out carousing in the Marina tonight, reminding me that I'm thirty and am one step away from dying alone and being eaten by my cats (which is why I don't have cats - I can't die if there's nothing there to eat my corpse in the days before anyone notices I'm missing!).

Let's start over. I was v. hermity by design today, not out of any sad social disaster - it's just that St Patrick's Day is one of those 'holidays' in which the Marina people empty out into the streets in their skanky little outfits and get wasted just because they're supposed to. Yes, I'm judging. And yes, if this were the Olympics or something serious to celebrate, I would be out there too. Anyway, today was good, albeit hermity - I had a lovely late breakfast (which I made for myself), then spent the entire afternoon/evening curled up in front of the tv, watching basketball, hanging out with Terry, and organizing all the many and varied receipts that I need to give to my tax lady asap. I also ordered pizza (yay for gluten-free delivery pizza), watched the Iowa State game (sad outcome, but glad I got to see them play), watched the first episode of the first season of Downton Abbey (which I must watch asap or my romance writer card is going to be revoked), and watched some other sitcoms, etc. I haven't spent hours and hours in front of the tv since...probably since the last time I was in Iowa, watching [censored] with [censored].

So that was all good, and my taxes are organized, which is a huge relief. I need to write a bunch of guest blog posts tomorrow and take care of some other business, but at least this is over with. And now, I think I shall write in my journal a bit before going to sleep -- goodnight!

once i rose above the noise and confusion

Today was v. quiet and hermity, which was lovely - perhaps I'll spend the whole weekend in hermit mode, since I do enjoy my hermit time. I dragged myself down to the gym about fifteen minutes late to train with Alyssa, since I was exchanging emails with my agent about whether to move forward with the professional formatter or do it myself, but Alyssa was still nice to me even if my legs are now super sore. That's not entirely her fault -- getting drunk and wandering around the Tenderloin in flipflops (which I've avoided wearing ever since destroying my feet by wearing flipflops all around Tokyo two years ago) certainly didn't help matters. Then I had a salad in the gym cafe, stopped at Office Depot to buy padded envelopes (my life is so glamorous), and came straight home to avoid what I guessed would be apocalyptic Friday afternoon traffic given the rains we've gotten.

Once I got home, I made some coffee and tackled the giant heaps of mail and receipts that have been accumulating for months while I was finishing up SCOTSMEN. I think I found all my tax documents, and I reorganized my file cabinet, so that was all good (albeit kind of a sad way to spend a Friday night, unless you, like me, take pleasure out of organizing things). I intended to organize my tax documents tonight as well, but I decided to take a break and read a book instead. I made it about a quarter of the way into "The Forge of Christendom: The End of Days and the Epic Rise of the West", and I must say that it's a fascinating page turner (if such things can be considered fascinating page turners). Reading about Otto going after the Hungarians was fabulously entertaining...or maybe that's just me. Anyway, the premise of the book is that when the first millennium didn't bring the end of the world, Christians had to start building their own Jerusalem on earth, thus laying the framework for an improbable rise to dominance given how utterly backward and awful most of Europe was at the time. And maybe I enjoyed it because the author's prose is very Lord of the Rings-esque, with all sorts of talk of shadows and powers rising and descriptions of pagan barbarians that kind of make them sound like orcs (and a first chapter that was even titled "The Return of the King").

But still, it's fascinating. And in case you hadn't guessed, it's research of a sort for the gargoyles project, which I keep turning over in my head -- it's time to add some more ingredients to the stew, even if all I can do is stir things up for the next week or two before buckling down on Ellie and Nick. 1000 AD is before the time that matters to the gargoyles story, but it's an important foundation anyway, and I do enjoy reading about the end of the world.

Now, though, I must sleep, so I can do my taxes and write five guest blogs and take care of all sorts of other silly tasks. Goodnight!

don't you cry no more

Today was fantastically productive, until it suddenly veered into partytown. I woke up earlier than I intended since someone insisted on using a power saw for hours outside my window (bastards), but that meant that I was out the door by 10:30 (a record when I don't really have anywhere to be). I went to Morning Due and worked for a couple of hours, taking care of all sorts of vital and important tasks (including putting the first two chapters of SCOTSMEN up on my romance website - check them out here). Then I came home and slogged hard for another three hours, taking care of all sorts of varied and uninteresting (but important) tasks.

And then the day abruptly veered off course. Chandlord had asked if I wanted to do something this afternoon, and I was game to take a break for a couple of hours, so we decided to get pedicures. But the place was byob, so I took a bottle of champagne, which led straight downhill into utter debauchery. The pedicures were great...then we walked in the general direction of the Tenderloin and went to the wine bar where Hidden Vine used to be, and each had a Tuscan wine flight (three smaller glasses of wine for comparison purposes, ostensibly, although it's really for drunk purposes). On the way there, we stumbled across a cute jewelry shop and I indulged in some costume pieces for my romance writer persona - a bracelet with an oversized cameo on it, and a pair of dangly earrings with pendants that look like royal crowns. Post wine bar, we went to the bar at the Westin in Union Square and had super fancy cocktails and truffle oil popcorn while watching part of the ISU/UConn game (my cocktail had egg white in it, if that tells you anything). Then we got substantially less classy and had vegetarian Chinese food in the Tenderloin, but it was super tasty. Then I took the bus home (completely unclassy end to a classy evening), said a drunken hello to Terry, and then came upstairs and did some Photoshop for the last hour and a half to take care of something I needed to send to my publicist.

And now, it's sleepytime -- Alyssa is going to *kill* me tomorrow, particularly since it will be clear to her that I was drinking (she isn't a fan of alcohol -- apparently it's bad for you or something??). Goodnight!

she said you're like a disease without any cure

First, a warning: at some point in the next few months, this blog is going away.

I know, tragic (or not tragic, if you never got why I write drivel here every night). However, all things come to an end. And while I don't want to end this and don't intend to stop blogging, I do have hopes that I will sell enough books to make a living for the rest of my life -- and if that happens, just about every author I know who's made it big has picked up a stalker along the way. I read MISERY at a v. young and impressionable age, and the last thing I want is to be trapped by some crazy woman who cuts off my finger and uses it as my birthday candle (I mean, I already escaped living with Adit -- how much more can I be expected to endure in one lifetime?).

And really, if you've read my blog for more than five days, it would be laughably easy to figure out my routines and patterns. I'm pretty sure if I asked any of you to name three places I eat regularly, or who my trainer is, or what neighborhood I live in, or the names of three people I hang out with, you'd have no trouble at all, even if you don't live in the city and have never been to any of these places yourself.

So. Option 1 is to lock this blog, give all regular readers the password, and continue as normal. But I don't know how easy/hard it is to hack into (I'm guessing somewhat easy for someone determined enough to want to turn my skin into a cape), and I don't know what remains in Google's cache forever after a blog is locked. Doing a Google search for a locked blog I know of turned up no results...so maybe that would work. But that would require asking everyone who reads this blog to sign up for an account, which would probably result in attrition.

Option 2 is to make this blog private only to me, then start a new blog whose address is shared with all current readers, but using code words for friends/places. That could be fun! It would be like a puzzle! But you'd still have to request access, since obvi I can't link between the two publicly, and you'd have to guess what the code words mean (unless I sent around a one-time key/glossary and trust that all y'all aren't trying to stalk me).

Option 3 is to delete this blog, start blogging fresh at sarawampler.com (which I've owned forever and done absolutely nothing with - it's a joke and an embarrassment), but blog there as though I know it's going to be public knowledge. Same as Option 2, I'd have to create code names for places/people. But what I would lose by having to be a bit more circumspect, I might gain in the long run if I ever write fiction under my real name and need to have an established web presence about something other than my champagne consumption and hermitville.

I don't know, friends! What do you vote for? If you're the one voting for me to get kidnapped by a stalker, please warn me so I don't invite you to the new blog!

In other news, today was a day full of productivity, with a lovely break to hang out with Tammy (aka Tammmmeh - I've already thought of a code name for her, but I won't share it yet). She was in town v. briefly and asked me at the last minute if I wanted to have lunch at Samovar, which I was more than happy to do. So we hung out for exactly two hours (the length of time I could park my car for free), and much fun was had even if she did grill me on the sex scenes in my book. Then I came home and slogged all afternoon/evening/night, with a v. brief break to watch some Craig and eat some leftover chili. My to-do list is ridiculously, appallingly long, and I'm trying to clear it in the next few days so that I can start writing Nick and Ellie next week. But it's going to be rough...and since I know it will be rough, I should probably get some sleep. Goodnight!

my therapist said not to see you no more

I'm super sleepy, so I think I'll go to bed (or perhaps I'll read for a bit first, and we all know how that turns out). Today was pretty productive, hangover aside (and it really wasn't bad at all, all things considered). I took care of a bunch of chores and errands, such as buying groceries so I no longer have to live off scrambled eggs and doing a few loads of laundry, etc. And I spent the bulk of the afternoon/evening/night formatting SCOTSMEN for the print version, which I just finished, so yay to that.

And really that's all I have to report, since I was v. hermity. If you're lucky, tomorrow will be much more interesting. Goodnight!

it's everything i wish i didn't know...but you give me something i can feel

Today was absolutely blissful. I did sleep the sleep of the just last night after finishing SCOTSMEN, so hard that it was difficult to drag myself out of bed this morning. But I succeeded somehow, and I made it up in time to shower, camouflage my lack of sleep with the appropriate application of cosmetics from my closet of wonders, blow dry my hair (properly, not half-assedly like I usually do), and drive down to Mountain View for my Authors@Google talk. I got there in time to get set up to my liking, and Heather (aka dear respected madam -- and happy birthday!!) checked me in and got me upstairs. John and Can both helped carry books upstairs, which was super nice of them -- that's the benefit of having so many college friends who now work for the company, right?

Anyway, the talk went really well -- probably as well as I could have expected, really. The big boss interviewed me, which was really fun; she's a great interviewer/public speaker and we still have good rapport even after almost a year and a half of not working together (hard to believe), so I think the talk went well. And even if it didn't go well, the awesome green dress I got from Anthropologie last week made up for any poor speaking on my part. But all the feedback after was positive, and I had fun, so that's all that matters. It will go up on YouTube sometime soon and I'll post a link then so you can see for yourself. The talk turned into a sort of minireunion of old AdWorders, which I think was fun for everyone, and I sold and signed a bunch of books, which was fun for me. And after the talk, I had lunch with Gyre, Heather, and Will, which was super nice and a great way to end the event.

So yay to all of that, and thanks to all of you who came. Post event, I went to Philz and grabbed some coffee/sent some thankyou emails while the attendees were still fresh in my mind, then drove back to the evil city, where I worked for a couple of hours. Terry got home around 6:15, and we proceeded to drink a bottle of wine and watch some Project Runway (from weeks ago - I'm behind on all our shows, so we took some time tonight to start getting me caught up). Then, we rendezvoused with Lauren (aka Subz) for dinner at a French place near us, which turned into a super fancy outing -- we had a cheese course, then split a salad, and then our entrees were amazing (Terry had a burger, which I ate a bit of, and it was great; I had a cassoulet that was out of this world good; Lauren had chicken that I didn't try, but that also looked amazing). And I had a cocktail, and then Terry ordered me a glass of champagne to toast finishing SCOTSMEN, so I came home quite drunk and happy. It was a great end to a wonderful day, and a break I definitely needed.

And now that the talk is over and I've recuperated with friends, I should go to bed, pray that my hangover isn't too bad, and hit it hard with all the non-writing things on my to-do list tomorrow. This is the week for catching up on everything I've neglected for the past two months, so that I can start Ellie and Nick next week with a clear desk. Goodnight!

rejoice

YAY I FINISHED SCOTSMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just sent it to my agent, along with my dedication and author note and all that jazz. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pardon my excessive jubilation. I'm not even all that jubilant -- I'm too frazzled to be jubilant, and I have to get up tomorrow and doll myself up so that I can do my Authors@Google talk, so I should really go to bed. But I'm pretty happy nonetheless. It's been a really long, really brutal slog (as you know, since my blog content has gotten progressively less interesting as the weeks have progressed), and now it's over. And now I can take approximately fifteen minutes off before doing all the stuff that's piled up around me (and starting to write Ellie and Nick's story, sob).

But I'm glad I'm done. And I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. And that's all I can say, because I can't process any emotions other than relief.

The rest of my day was pretty horrible/boring; I had to get up at six to take that woman to the airport, which felt like five, which totally threw me off. So I came home around 7:45, looked at pictures of Prince Harry in South America and the Duchess of Cambridge in England for an hour (why?! I don't know! I love them!), and slept until 12:30. Then I worked the rest of the day, with a break to talk to my parents and paint my fingernails. I didn't properly feed myself (smoothie for lunch, cottage cheese for a snack, scrambled eggs and oatmeal for dinner -- yes, it's come to that), and I didn't really take any breaks, and I barely saw Terry (other than to stumble out at 10:30pm to tell her that I'm done, which made her rejoice too since it means I might watch more tv with her again in the future).

But that's all. And now I must sleep the sleep of the just, get up, do my hair, and go down to my old employer to give my talk. Hopefully at least a few people show up, or else I'm going to be a v. sad camper. Goodnight!

princess of china

I have to get up at six a.m., which is going to feel like five a.m., which is going to make me *incredibly* surly, so I should probably go to bed immediately. Today was good, albeit long; I made it over to the dirty east bay in time to meet with the board of my romance chapter before the meeting. The meeting itself was good, and the program went well, so yay to that. I skipped out on lunch, though, in the interest of getting writing done, but my plans were mildly stalled when I drove to Morning Due (not on my way) and discovered that parking was way too rough to bother with, so I came home and had a late lunch on Union Street instead. Remind me to never go to that cafe again -- I'm sure I will go again, because the food options within four blocks of me are surprisingly, uniformly not great, but today was bad news bears. Usually this place has bad service and great food, but today the service was okay and the food was bad (i.e. burnt).

sssanyway, I came home and worked the rest of the afternoon, to mostly good effect. I'm writing one new scene and it was kind of slow going, but I should be done tomorrow. I took a longer than anticipated break for dinner, since I went downstairs to make something and ended up watching two episodes of "The Big Bang Theory" and an episode of "Bones" with Terry, but I suppose I needed the diversion.

And now I really, really must go to bed -- I have to take the speaker back to the airport tomorrow morning, then do any number of things to finish the book and get ready for the author talk I'm doing on Monday, etc. Goodnight!

i know you've been hurt by someone else

It's not quite ten o'clock, but I'm falling asleep over my edits, so I'm going to go to bed. I thought that I could finish Scotsmen today, but I didn't quite -- I will *definitely* finish tomorrow, though, so stab me in the face if I don't.

But I couldn't focus on it all day today like I would have liked. I messed around online for a couple of hours this morning, showered, ate breakfast/lunch (at noon, so lunch, but eggs and oatmeal, so breakfast), and worked on Scotsmen for a couple of hours. Then I had to put it aside and go to SFO to pick up the speaker for tomorrow's romance meeting. She was quite nice (good thing, since by the time I picked her up, took her to her hotel in Berkeley during rush hour, and then went out to dinner with her, I spent four hours with her), but I was a little annoyed that I had to spend so much time on this responsibility, especially since no one else on the board could have dinner tonight. But dinner was super tasty, even if it was expensive and left me way too full (prime rib, yum, and a cinnamon chocolate pot de creme that was a perfect dessert for my gluten-freedom).

I got home around eight, then then worked until now, but I'm falling asleep and that's no good for fixing typos. So I'm going to go to bed, since I have to be up by seven to go to my romance meeting in the morning -- boo. Goodnight!

my only wish is i die real

I'm falling asleep over my keyboard, so I should really go to bed, but today was lovely (albeit not as productive as I had hoped, since I only worked on the manuscript from 4:30 to 5:30 and from 10pm to 1am). I spent the morning taking care of business issues beyond the book, including lining up a speaker for next month's romance meeting (which was crucial, since I was starting to panic about it). Then, I met up with a romance writer to have coffee in North Beach (aka Little Italy, which smelled of bread and pasta and made me hate my gluten intolerance). I'd never met her in person before, but we're twitter acquaintances and she was in town for the week, so we got together. As it turns out, she was really fun, so I'm glad we met in person.

After that, I stopped by City Lights bookstore, which I haven't been to in years, and bought too many books. Then I got to the car and my trip became even more expensive when I discovered that I'd lost my parking ticket -- so I had to pay the $27 lost ticket fee instead of the ~$7 that I would have paid for the time I was parked there. Boo. So I left the city quite annoyed, drove down to Palo Alto, and spent an hour or so working at Philz. Then, I met up with Tolu, Joann, and the original Jen for our usual friendship renewal dinner. Jen was in town from NYC and replaced Jane, who couldn't make it, since we seem to oddly always maintain exactly four people at these dinners. It was great to see them all, even if I did basically drive all the way to Sunnyvale for a salad. And Jen had ordered two copies of my book, one for me and one for her mom, and asked me to sign them -- which was the first time I've signed a book, and it made me super eager/nervous/excited, which was funny.

Post dinner, I came home and worked until now. And now, since every scrap of brain has been used on my manuscript (to the detriment of this post, which is neither interesting nor well-written), I need to go to bed. Soooo close to being done -- maybe tomorrow will be the end of it. Goodnight!

if i took you home it'd be a home run

no more words must sleep immediately bleehasdghjkajkdgn..axc.

Translation: Pretty much what I said above. Still not done with SCOTSMEN but I'm so close I can taste it -- I just have to finish this one scene, then make sure the two scenes after it aren't messed up as a result. Today wasn't ideal from a timing perspective, since I went to the gym, worked out, then discovered I forgot to bring a bra or underwear with me, so I had to come straight home rather than having a leisurely south bay lunch and working as I had planned. Then I did just a bit of work here before going downtown to get my hair cut and my brows waxed/tinted -- and I must say I'm super glad I bit the bullet and did tinting, since my white grandpa eyebrows are finally covered. Then I came home, did a bit of work, made supper, and slogged hard until now.

And now I'm going to bed. if I don't finish SCOTSMEN tomorrow, pls kill me. Goodnight!

bleh

No words left. They've all been smashed into Malcolm and Amelia's story, and I hope they're in the right order and are playing nicely with each other. I worked basically nonstop today (after I got out of bed, at the admittedly desultory hour of 9:15). After showering, etc., I went to Morning Due, where I worked for almost four hours over a delish breakfast and a couple of glasses of coffee (don't tell Alyssa). Then I went to the grocery store and stocked up; then I came home and cleaned out the fridge and freezer; then I ate some Greek yogurt (tell Alyssa); then I worked for a couple of hours; then I made a great salad (spinach, walnuts, dried cranberries, blue cheese, chicken); then I worked until now.

I did take the slightest break when Terry got home -- we watched some of "The Voice", including a couple of song battles between different singing pairs, which was a nice interlude. We also talked politics a bit, which was similarly a nice interlude, even though I'm generally upset and depressed about how things are playing out this year. Then I buckled down and worked...

...and I'm so tantalizingly close to being done with Malcolm and Amelia. If I wasn't so dead tired, I might just send it to Jenn now -- but I need to spend a couple of hours looking through it tomorrow to make sure I didn't make any totally stupid mistakes. But hopefully by this time tomorrow night (or earlier, since I don't think I can stay up until 2:30am again), I'll be done!!! And then there will be much rejoicing throughout the land (although I will be too tired for rejoicing).

But now I should really sleep -- I have to meet Alyssa tomorrow morning, then speed back to the evil city to get my hair cut in preparation for next week's talk. I'm also getting my eyebrows tinted, which seems crazy given that I've never dyed my hair, but since I've got multiple white hairs in my eyebrows that are growing in right in the middle where I can't pluck them, the time has come. Sigh. Goodnight!

shake rattle and roll

I was awoken most rudely this morning by an earthquake at 5:30am -- it wasn't large enough to knock anything over in the house, but it was an unwelcome reminder that I live in a v. seismically active state, near a fault that is due for a 7.0+ earthquake (the Hayward fault, which has historically ruptured every ~140 years, and whose last major earthquake was 144 years ago). Boo.

However, as soon as the shaking stopped this morning, I went back to sleep, and stayed asleep for another three hours. Then I got up, took care of some stuff, made some eggs for breakfast (yum), and then drove down to Palo Alto to train with Alyssa. I'm pretty sure she's trying to kill me, even if a jury would never convict her. Then I showered, had a salad for lunch, and was remarkably unproductive this afternoon; Alyssa and I are experimenting with my caffeine intake, and today I was supposed to try having no caffeine during the afternoon, which was an epic, epic fail. I had a snack at 2:30 instead, as instructed, and yet I spent the entire afternoon yawning and wandering around in a mental fog. But I finally broke and had coffee at four, which saved me, and I was right as rain the rest of the day.

So when I got some caffeine in me, I worked straight from 4:30 to 11:30, with a break for some Chipotle (and more caffeine). I'm so tantalizingly close to done with the edits -- maybe tomorrow will be the day. But I had to throw in the towel at 11:30 so I could drive back to the evil city, and then I procrastinated for a bit upon my arrival, and now I really should sleep. Tomorrow I have no plans but editing, so hopefully I will finish Malcolm and Amelia so I never have to see them again. Goodnight!

anything you've been dreaming of

Don't ask about Malcolm and Amelia. It's not that they're going badly -- it's that they're not going at all, given everything else I have to do and my extreme desire not to do any of it. I think I need a day off, and I'm becoming increasingly unproductive the longer I go without a true break. I know all this, and yet I'm still at my desk at midnight. C'est la vie.

Anyway, I woke up this morning to a v. gorgeous, sunny San Francisco. If I've learned anything living here, it's to seize the warm sunny days when they exist, since usually it's sunny with a biting wind that will knock your teeth out (and yes, I know, when it never ever gets below freezing and 'biting wind' is still above 50 degrees, there's no room for complaint -- but when there's not really a summer, either, it's a strange place to live). So I showered, put on a cute sundress that is utterly inappropriate for the first weekend in March, wore sandals despite the chipping polish on my toenails, and did just a bit of work and drank just a bit of coffee before it was time to go to Katrina's for brunch. She's just back from New Zealand, and so we got together to dissect her trip. It sounds like she had an absolutely lovely, albeit ridiculous, time, and she made me v. jealous discussing everything she did and all the cool things she saw. I went to New Zealand with Aunt B (she who is now married to the scandalous husband) way back in 1999, but we only spent a week there, and I could easily go back and spend more time.

After brunch (which was delish -- frittata and an oatmeal bar, where 'bar' is a set of varied accoutrements and condiments like a salad bar, not 'bar' like a sad, hardened rectangle of oatmeal), Katrina, Chandlord and I got coffee at Contraband, where the iced latte made me utterly happy (and the company was aight). Chandlord then went home, but Katrina and I came to my place, where we both attempted to do work in the gorgeous sun of my rooftop deck. While I didn't get as much done as I should have, I will say that sitting in the sun for a few hours and enjoying life was v. v. nice. And I stayed on the deck after Katrina left and called my parents from there, so even if the warmth goes away and doesn't come back for a few weeks, at least I spent some time in it.

After that, I worked pretty much nonstop (well, I've been on my computer nonstop; I did take more breaks than I should have to read stuff online and check twitter and check sales rankings, etc.). Terry and I did leave the house again to grab dinner at Roam, where the burger is delicious enough that I don't mind that I have to eat it in a stupid lettuce wrap instead of on a bun. Then I came home, posted a guest blog that I'm hosting for someone tomorrow, answered interview questions for a blog that I'm being hosted on at the end of the month, and wrote interview questions for a blog that I'm hosting in a few weeks. It never ends.

And now, I should probably stay up all night and edit, but instead I'm going to go to bed so that I can get some sleep before working out with Alyssa tomorrow. But after Alyssa, I shall have a long and brutal slog at the library -- wish me luck!

will you hose me down with holy water when i get too hot

I'm super sleepy -- between Alyssa's recommendations about cutting back on caffeine and the quarter-bottle of wine I had at dinner (definitely not one of Alyssa's recommendations), I think it's time for bed. Today was mostly all work; I didn't get up until 10:30 or so, but I took care of some stuff online before eventually showering and getting dressed in something other than sweats (you should be so proud). Then I made myself an excellent breakfast (scrambled eggs with green onions, red pepper, mushrooms, black olives, and cheese), made some coffee (don't tell Alyssa), and worked on SCOTSMEN all afternoon.

I should have kept working all night, but I had promised Terry I would go down to Stanford with her to see her youngest brother Kevin perform in a sketch comedy program. So we left the evil city around 5:45, drove down to the glorious south bay, picked up her brother Tom, and had dinner at Joanie's. Joanie's has a v. different crowd at dinner than they do at lunch, but the food is mostly the same, so I had my beloved cobb salad and the aforementioned wine (a syrah/something else blend that was really quite good). Then we went to Stanford and watched the show, which was actually really enjoyable -- I liked all the skits to varying degrees, and some of them were truly awesome. I did feel totally old, though, since the college kids looked like children. Also, they all seemed to know Nine Days's "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)"; I found it a little odd that the organizers were playing that song, since it't about twelve years old, which means that while I was at Stanford attending the Nine Days/Vertical Horizon concert put on one autumn, the kids who were at the show tonight were approximately seven years old and were possibly listening to it on the school bus. Gah.

But if I ignore how old I am, it was still fun. After the show was over, we congratulated Kevin, dropped Tom off, and came home, where I promptly worked for another hour and a half. And now I'm going to go to bed -- I want to read a book, but it's clearly not going to happen, and tomorrow needs to involve way more writing if I'm going to finish SCOTSMEN. Goodnight!

some nights you're like nothing i've ever seen before or will again

I had a lovely day, even if I'm not done with SCOTSMEN. I woke up around 8:30 and took care of a variety of tings around the house until a little after noon, when I then vacated the apartment to go to my beloved Readers Cafe and edit for a few hours. When I got there, though, I discovered that the damned place is CLOSING on Sunday, which made me quite sad, as I had only just discovered it a couple of months ago. Apparently they're going to try to put another cafe into the space, and I hope that it doesn't take them long to do so, because the place is the perfect combination of "just busy enough to stay interesting" and "just slow enough that it's always possible to get a table". Also, it opens directly into a used bookstore/nonprofit run by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, which is dangerous in its own right; I walked out of there today with three books on British history that I hadn't intended to buy, but that all looked fantastic.

Anyway, I had a latte and a coffee and mourned quietly to myself while editing SCOTSMEN, which went pretty well, all things considered. I came home around 5:45 and ordered a gluten-free pizza with the intention of holing up with it and eating it all weekend while working on the manuscript. But ten minutes later, Chandlord called and asked if I wanted to have dinner -- and since I hadn't seen her in weeks (I would have guessed three, but the blog indicates that I haven't seen her since my book came out on January 23 -- which I suppose makes sense, since I've been an utter hermit for the past month and spent a week in Santa Cruz besides), I promptly called the pizza place to cancel my order, then met her at her place so that we could go to Olive for dinner and a drink. It turned into a longer endeavor than expected since it was hard to get a table at happy hour, but it was v. v. lovely to see her, and we did eventually get a table. Of course, it was cause for surliness to watch Chandlord eat a gluten-y pizza when I had been forced to cancel my gluten-free one, but I had a v. delicious ceviche and chips, so it wasn't that bad. And the company was entertaining, and it was good to catch up, so yay to all of that.

I came home around 10:15, and worked straight from then until now. And now I must go to bed -- I need to edit all day if I have any hope of finishing the book by Monday as I planned to. Goodnight!

show me why you deserve to have it all

It's definitely bedtime -- this weekend is all about finishing SCOTSMEN, and the more sleep I get now, the more refreshed I will be for hitting it hard tomorrow. I didn't get any writing done today, but it was still good; the majority of the late morning/afternoon was taken up doing judging for the Golden Heart, which was due today, and so I had to read all the entries (since I'd procrastinated, of course) and score them. Luckily, I got some really good ones, so it wasn't as onerous as some of my past judging experiences. And I did it from the comfort of Joanie's Cafe, followed by a wonderful couple of hours at Cafe Borrone (which I have abandoned because everything I love there has gluten in it, but I had a strawberry soda and enjoyed the atmosphere despite my eating woes).

After I finished, I met up with Heather (aka dear respected madam) for dinner, which was lovely, and we got all caught up on each others' lives. Then I drove back to the evil city, talked to Terry for awhile, came upstairs, and messed around on the internet for the past couple of hours. And now I need to stop procrastinating and just go to bed -- tomorrow I'm going to find a cafe and hole up to work on edits, so wish me luck!

but i'll never forget the way you feel right now

Today was lovely, albeit busy (and even though I can't possibly do everything I intend to get done this week). I dragged myself out of bed and only hacked up part of my lung, so I guess I'm starting to get a little better. I drove down to Palo Alto to train with Alyssa, who only partially tried to kill me in honor of my illness, and it actually felt good to work out, which is a sign of just how diseased I've become. Then I took a v. v. brief shower, drank part of a smoothie, and got a massage. Alyssa had instructed me to get a massage to help my recovery, and while I don't know whether it was sound advice, it sounded good to me. I had a massage that I'd paid for ages ago, so this felt sort of free, and it really did help (even if I did start coughing while I was getting massaged, which was super awkward).

Post massage, I went to Philz and drank coffee and got super hyped up on caffeine while getting some work done. I talked to my parents for longer than I intended, but then I spent the rest of the afternoon writing an email to my friends and family mailing list to say that Heiress is now available on Kindle and in paperback via Amazon -- yay! I finally got it sent off around 6:45pm, and then I went to Chipotle in an effort to get something other than caffeine into my system. Thus refueled, I should have gone to Stanford to work on Scotsmen, but instead I drove home, where I procrastinated while watching "South Park" with Terry. Oops. Now I'm going to read some stuff I need to read, then go to bed, then get up tomorrow and go to Stanford to work before having dinner with dear respected madam. Scotsmen must get finished immediately -- wish me luck! Goodnight!