i got you baby

I stayed up way too late and so I'm suddenly too tired to blog...but suffice it to say that today was my dad's birthday (happy birthday!), and it was a lovely, quiet day in southern Iowa. But I'm falling asleep as I'm typing this, so nothing would be served by trying to write anything longer...goodnight!

we ain't never getting older

Surprise! I am in Iowa!

I will only be here for a couple of days, since I came to surprise my dad for his sixtieth birthday, but I think the trip was worth it. It was even worth getting up at 3:30am so that I could catch my 6am flight. That was all slightly more stressful than usual - I flew American, which I haven't flown in perhaps half a decade, because I had miles on American that I realized I should use on something like this (a last minute trip, which I booked on Sunday). Surprisingly, I was able to find a ticket flying in today and back Monday, and it was all smooth (other than the fact that I'm not at all familiar with the American terminal at SFO and also have never flown through Phoenix, and so my usual SFO->DEN->DSM routine was totally thrown off and I was hungry all day as a result of my poor planning and lack of obvious gluten free options).

So I slept on the plane from SFO to PHX, and then I wrote on the plane from PHX to DSM (good stuff, albeit not enough for my tastes). When I got to DSM, I picked up my rental car, drove home, and rendezvoused with [censored] in our hometown. [censored] was the only person in Iowa who knew I was coming, and I had been texting him off and on all day, but apparently I am not destined to be an expert spymaster (although [censored] was able to translate my Mongolian at some point, so not all is lost). We met up so that he could drive me to our house without ruining the surprise by having a strange car show up in the driveway - and we succeeded rather well, I think. My parents were definitely totally surprised, and if they weren't happy to see me, they are excellent actors.

We hung out around home for awhile, and we eventually went to supper in Seymour, where I had a ribeye and a baked potato to make everything better after a day of limited foodstuffs. My dad has a special relationship with them and they'll make him eggs to go with his steak even though they'll make eggs for no one else at night - he uses his talents for eggs, and I use mine for free wine at bars, but it's all in the same vein. So we ate supper and told jokes and I finally warmed up from the frigid temperatures just in time to go back outside again.

Then we came home, I watched some tv, and now I should sleep - I didn't get nearly enough sleep last night, and I should maximize my time here (although I'll be back in a month, so it's not like I won't have plenty of time then, but still). Goodnight!

we're not gonna pay last year's rent

I really want to go to bed - today wasn't the optimal productivity day that I was hoping for, but it was still great, so I'll take it. I spent the morning messing around at home, although I got a little work done - I finished putting in the edits from my editor, which is a boring, thankless task, but I finally finished in time to go to my writing date.

My writing date was with Veronica at the Legion of Honor - we're continuing our museum writing date habit. I wasn't as productive today as last time, which was a little disappointing - but I really like Veronica a lot, and it was good to get some quality time with her. We chatted, then worked, then ate lunch (I had a curry that was surprisingly satisfying), then worked some more. And then we saw the special exhibit on the Brothers LeNain - they're a group of three French brothers who painted in the 1600s, and they're a little bizarre in that they seemingly purposefully obscured who produced what, which has led to some mysteries for modern curators. I enjoyed the exhibit immensely, particularly since they painted some children who looked incredibly dim-witted (like the Zoolander of the French peasantry), and they used the same models over and over, which made me laugh. Yes, I am not sophisticated enough for art.

We parted ways after four hours together, and I took a few moments to admire how gorgeous everything was outside Legion of Honor before heading home. Legion of Honor is v. close to the ocean, with a view of the Golden Gate from the west (as opposed to from the east/south, like most of the city), and it's tranquil and gorgeous out there - much moreso than my neighborhood, where I went to CVS and noticed a guy definitely stealing stuff. Thanks for the reminder that I hate the city, thief dude!

sssanyway. After I got home, I took care of a variety of tings (and by that I mean I procrastinated for ninety minutes before running my CVS errand, coming home, and eating dinner). I also scribbled in my notebook while watching a Project Runway episode from two weeks ago - I'm a little behind and I need to catch up.

But now, I'm desperate for sleep - I am way behind on my to-do list, and I am hoping to catch up on all the things tomorrow. Goodnight!

no reservations

I've stayed up past my bedtime, but today was worth it. I got quite a bit done this morning, thanks to turning off the internet before waking up - it's a tactic that I'm probably just going to have to continue. So if there's major news, call or text me rather than expecting that I'll see an email or social post...I feel a lot happier when I can bury my head in my work for a few hours before reality comes knocking again.

But I had to stop working before I was ready to this morning - I had lunch plans with some of my writer friends, since we're all ladies who can do such things. My friend Tina was supposed to go to Tahoe with us, but she was too sick to join, so we had lunch with her to catch her up on what she missed. Grace, Anne, Barbara, Tina and I met at the Cliff House, where we had possibly the most perfect table with an amazing view of the ocean (made even more amazing by the fact that it was actually sunny). I never go out to the ocean, but every time I do, I'm reminded of how incredible it is...but driving twenty minutes across town to get there is just not something I do all that often.

Lunch was great - I had a glass of champagne so that Tina could have the experience she missed of watching me drink (Tina doesn't really drink, but if you know me at all, you know champagne is my weakness - and they had Gloria Ferrer by the glass, so I couldn't resist). I also had a great steak frites with perfect truffle fries, so that was blissful. And we had a great time chatting and catching up and filling Tina in on everything - hopefully we can go there again sometime, since it was great and relatively convenient for all parties.

Then I came home, procrastinated, did some stuff around the house, and hung out with Vidya, who came over to do Chandlord-y stuff. I plied her with salad and heard about her upcoming trip to Burma (Myanmar?), and that was all great.

But she had to go pack, and I had to go the opera house to see Anthony Bourdain speak. It was a bit of a strange experience - the bro behind me was waaaaaay too excited about Bourdain (his girlfriend kept shushing him), and a protestor got up early on and started yelling at Bourdain about puppies and animals and vegetarianism (he humored her for awhile, but then threatened to go out and shoot a puppy in the head if she didn't stop talking, and eventually security took her out). The rest of the talk was funny and uneventful - it was almost like watching a standup routine by a guy who isn't a comedian, but who still have interesting and often funny things to say.

Then I came home, did some internet stuff, and accidentally fell asleep in the middle of writing this, so I think it's time for bed. Goodnight!

i will never be satisfied

I had a pretty good day, productivity-wise - I set up aggressive internet blocks last night before I went to bed, so I wasn't able to check fb or twitter or instagram or the news or any of the other million things that have been distracting me. While this didn't lead to me writing a million words, I was certainly happier and more focused this morning - so I'm going to do it again tomorrow. I also did laundry, took care of some business stuff, and did some solid editing, so that was all great.

This afternoon, I had a writing date in San Bruno - as is typical, I didn't get a lot done with them, but it's always good to see Anne, Barbara, and Veronica. Then I came home, made chicken and greek salad for dinner, and started wondering again about tomatoes/nightshades because my hands started hurting tonight for the first time in awhile. And then I procrastinated rather than working, but I think that's acceptable...

And now I'm going to go to bed early and hope that I get a lot done in the morning, since I have many other plans for the rest of the day - goodnight!

i'm a little unsteady

Long day with quite a bit of progress...I woke up at six, which is extremely unusual for me, and actually got out of bed (even more unusual), which meant that I had several extra hours at the beginning of my day. I used that time to unpack, organize, take care of some lingering things on my to-do list, and get down to inbox zero in both of my main email accounts (that never happens). I also went to the grocery store, came home, and made a perfect sandwich (it's the little things, apparently).

But then things went a little sideways into slothville, mostly because my twenty-minute nap went well over an hour, which left me groggy. But I made some coffee and then was diligent with the writing for awhile - I got notes back from my editor, and they were spot on, so I spent some quality time with the manuscript and my thoughts.

But I can tell that I'm not going to get anything else done tonight, and I'd rather sleep than try to force it - goodnight!

and this is how it starts

I'm clearly still on east coast time, since I really wanted to go to bed two hours ago. But that made for a productive morning today - I got up, made some scrambled eggs (which was all I could scrounge together) and some iced coffee (instant, not cold brew), and then answered email for a couple of hours to get caught up on everything I missed while I was out of town. Then I showered, made some mayonnaise, and then made some tuna salad, which was the only other thing I could scrounge up (my grocery situation is dire).

I should have probably rectified the grocery situation, but instead I went to a cafe and had a writing date with myself for a couple of hours. Then I came home and talked to my parents for like 2.5 hours, while I slowly risked succumbing to starvation while waiting for my food delivery to arrive. But I eventually got fed, and I did some more work tonight, so I'm feeling organized(ish) for the week ahead.

But the week ahead requires a *ton* of writing, and also some groceries and attempts to feed myself, and also laundry and general cleanliness, so I should go to bed. Goodnight!

fragile to the waves, vicissitudes of days

I'm sleepy and jetlagged, but I'm about to enjoy my own bed (after already accidentally enjoying a nap on my own couch), so this shall be v. brief. But I woke up in Salem this morning, showered, packed, checked out of the hotel, and had brunch with Barbara before saying our sad farewells. I was ready to come home, but I also don't have any idea when I'll see her again, so that made our leave-taking a little sad since we've had some great times together this month.

But all things end, even the fun things, and I'm sure I'll find some quality time with her next year. I went to the airport, had a glass of wine and ordered a salad to go, and got some iced coffee to take on the flight. Happily, my flight was only half full, and the seat between me and the person in the window seat was empty, which made for a way more comfortable five hour flight than I usually have. I had intended to spend it working, but I did v. little work (other than half an hour of journalling) - instead, I finished A PROMISE OF FIRE (which I'd started last night). I had a little trouble getting into it, and the heroine was a little too whiny about being kidnapped (doesn't she know that she's the heroine in a fantasy world and that getting kidnapped and falling in love with your captor is part of the gig?!). But by the end I was hooked, and it ended on a cliffhanger-ish, and now I am eagerly awaiting the sequel in January.

After that, I didn't really want to start working (see: having half a bottle of wine over the first half of the flight, then sharing a second bottle with the woman next to me), so I also finished reading ALLOY OF LAW, which I'd started a couple of months ago and set aside. I ended up liking it better than I thought I would, so when I got home, I started reading the sequel. But I'm too wrecked to keep reading, and I really do need to work tomorrow and try to get my life in order, so it's time for bed. Goodnight!

listen to your heart bleed

I'm flying home tomorrow, and I'm ready for some time in my own bed. However, today was a good end to the conference - I made it downstairs in time for the morning workshop, where I had a few great realizations about my current story (which I need to work on like a fucking madwoman for the next couple of weeks). Then I went across the street for lunch - it was so amazingly windy, sweeping leaves through the cobbled streets, and I didn't feel like venturing any farther than I had to for a salad and some alone time.

Then I came back for the afternoon session, although I was fairly distracted - I'm really not into Lucy's book as much as I'd like to be because my head and my heart are dreaming of other projects and other, bigger plans. So I need to get refocused on the task at hand this week. But all in all, the conference was great - I met some cool new people, and I really really enjoyed all the time I got to spend with Barbara, and I had some good story realizations even if I didn't come up with a whole plot for my 'spinster honeymoon' idea out of the ether.

I grabbed a drink with Heather before the last session, and then I sat through the last session, and then I had a drink and some nachos with Barbara and Heather before they went out for a dinner for the session leaders. While they were at dinner, I came upstairs, took a nap, and then burrowed under the covers and started to read a book - so it was almost a miracle that Barbara convinced me to go downstairs and have a drink at the final party, since I'd taken off my pants and my bra and was happily deep in the book. But I went to the party and had a final glass of wine, and then she and I came upstairs and had yet another great conversation that I think left us both with big dreams and lots of chills (I have lots of big ideas for the year ahead - now it's just about organizing and implementing them).

And now, I shall sleep, and dream of everything I want to do, and get cracking on some of it tomorrow. Goodnight!

the other night i dreamt a nice continental drift divide

I have to say that I adore Salem. It's a town that has made its whole economy off the fact that it killed a bunch of women in the 1600s, which is highly problematic, and the Beyonce part of my soul wants to #slayallday and leave this place. But the part of me that is more interested in history and tragedy and chaos and lovely architecture has really enjoyed the days of wandering around Salem and immersing myself in stories.

Today I was much more focused than yesterday; I slept last night, and didn't have to get up early, and so was #inittowinit. I made it to my friend Barbara's workshop at nine (real sacrifice, I know) at the House of the Seven Gables (yes, that one), and I got some really good stuff out of it - it was all about voice, and short writing prompts, and I adore that kind of stuff. She talked about how your voice is what is is, but your genre/style is like clothing that you put on top of your voice/body, and some clothes fit great and some clothes look terrible. And that, to be honest, fit in with all the signs I'm getting in my life that maybe my voice is better suited for something other than historical romance...I love it, but it's not a natural fit, and my snarkiness/cynicism/outlook on life would probably fit better with YA or contemporary fiction than it does with historical, and I need to listen to that calling....

But I'll listen to that calling tomorrow. After Barbara's class, I went to another workshop (also great), and then Barbara and I had lunch at a v. tasty diner (Ugly Mug, I think) a few blocks away, where I had salmon and perfectly poached eggs and hollandaise, and we talked about story and life, and it was all wonderfully satisfying. Then, I walked her to the cemetery and we parted ways, and I went to a coffeeshop and people-watched and wrote and daydreamed to my heart's desire.

Eventually, I came home and took a nap, and then Barbara and I had drinks in the hotel (with a truly insufferable mansplainer who tried to tell his wife that Hillary is still a sitting senator and so can still go back to the senate, and the wife clearly wasn't having it, but he was convinced, so c'est la vie). Then we went across the street and had dinner and more wine, and then we came back to the hotel, and we agreed that we are besties and are so so glad to have met each other, and we have committed that we're doing a train trip in India in 2018 (yessssss, since there are other places in India I want to go and she's someone I can always travel with).

And now I need to sleep - I have several hours of workshops tomorrow and need to metabolize a lot of wine before that can happen. Goodnight!

world serves its own needs, don't misserve your own needs

I'm tempted to just direct you to [censored]'s attempt at writing a blog post for me (see last night's comments) and call it a night, since he #nailedit. But I suppose I should tell you that I'm still alive, although I'm brutally tired - I was up until after one a.m. last night, and didn't sleep well (thanks to almost five glasses of wine), and I woke up at seven feeling like death (mostly due to lack of sleep, not a hangover, which I miraculously avoided as the only gift of today).

It was rather interesting experiencing the aftermath of the election with a bunch of writers - writers are strange beasts anyway, and tend to be highly emotional (or at least sensitive to drama), and often very opinionated. And it was clear that the energy throughout the hotel was awful - there were a lot of tears and red eyes, and a lot of fear.

So I tried to put it all out of my head and focus on the work of learning how to tell better stories, but the morning workshop opened with a rather long diatribe about the election, and it totally distracted me. I took a couple of great things away from that workshop, but I was really exhausted and really unable to focus, so I ended up skipping all the afternoon stuff so that I could relax in my room, then go out and seek a late lunch by myself (salad and a glass of wine at a bar where the locals were also devastated), and then wander around Salem for a little bit. Salem's a really pretty town, and I wish I had more time here - but I think I'll be ready to go home when the time comes.

Then I came back to the hotel and hung out in the bar with my new friend Heather, who is awesome. She and Barbara were signing books at seven because they're workshop presenters and all the presenters did a signing, so I picked up a couple of books and then hid in my room for another hour. But then we all had a late dinner at Bit Bar, which was charming - it had a video game theme, with lots of old gaming machines, and Barbara had tater tots shaped like Tetris pieces, and it was delightful.

But now I'm desperate for sleep and hoping that I can refocus tomorrow since there are some workshops that I really want to get something out of - goodnight!

that's great it starts with an earthquake

I've had five glasses of wine, so {insert your own post here}. Goodnight!

your trojan's in my head

So, my blog post ended abruptly last night because I was on the extreme verge of typing nonsense (which I rescued myself from, other than the fact that I tagged the post 'potatoes' for unknown, unknowable reasons). Allow me to add that after our gorgeous dinner at Sarma, Ritu and I took the best lyft ever to Trina's Starlight Lounge, where we had another drink (the pint-glass-sized bourbon cocktail that I briefly referenced in the post). Our lyft driver was named Sayed, and he had amazing long blondish hair that may have been a weave, and a white coat like he was a ski instructor. He has been in the US for four months, and he said that he originally lived in Worcester but had just moved more into Boston because Worcester is the worst - and that even the founders must have known it was the worst, because they named it Worcester (which is pronounced 'wooster', which is, admittedly, close to worst).

So he was highly entertaining, in a good way, as opposed to our earlier lyft driver, who was entertaining in a bad way (he had been a bartender and a cop and an insurance agent and a cabbie and several other jobs, and he insisted that he knew the best way to get to where we were going, but it mostly seemed to involve taking illegal turns from the wrong lane). And our night ended well, with a final drink and some more delightful conversation before we were both wiped out.

Today was great all in all, although I'm wiped out - I felt better than I deserved to feel this morning, but I woke up late and felt late all day. I slept until ten, and then I showered and packed and talked to Ritu, and we eventually left the house and had lunch at Regal Beagle. Then we ran a few errands for her trip to India before she took me to the train station, where we said quick, sad farewells (sad because I have nothing definitive on the books to see her next, as opposed to the many weekends we've spent together this year...actually, now I realize that I've spent five weekends with her this year, which is 10% of my weekends, which is really good considering we live several thousand miles apart).

My train to Salem was quick and uneventful, and I took a cab to the hotel, where I promptly descended into writerly madness. My roommate (Barbara S, who was in Tahoe for the retreat two weeks ago) checked in last night and she was here when I arrived, so we promptly started talking and catching up again. Then I threw on a dress and we went down to the opening dinner -- there aren't any other big planned meals, but there was dinner tonight, which meant I couldn't hide in my room and sleep like I wanted to.

This turned out to be a good thing - it was really fun to meet some new people, including a woman named Heather whom I hit it off with immediately. I'm excited to get out of my romance writing comfort zone and meet some new people and hear some new ideas, and this seems like a good group for that. But it's also helpful to have Barbara here, since it's always good to have one friend (and she's awesome in so many ways, so if I were to pick someone to hang out with for a week someplace, she would definitely be on the list).

But as soon as dinner was over, I left immediately and came upstairs and put on yoga pants, and Barbara and I filled out an order for room service breakfast in the morning. She's giving one of the workshops in the morning, so she'll have to get up early (and she's an early riser anyway) - so maybe I'll be forced to not be my usual slothful self, which will be good. But for that to happen effectively, I desperately need to sleep - goodnight!

squirting for broccoli

I have discovered a new mathematical equation: (6 bourbon cocktails) = (point at which I text [censored] and tell him that I [censored]). To add a footnote, the sixth cocktail was served in a pint glass, which was really overkill.

As you may have guessed from that, Ritu and I had a great girls' night out tonight. Today was a really lowkey, lazy day - she didn't get home from her hospital shift until four a.m. (new time), and I had writing to do, so our mornings were spent somewhat separately. I tried to get up early and failed, but I rallied and put on pants and went to Peets, where I wrote for three solid hours and made some good progress. Then Ritu swung by, and we took a lyft to Barcelona (the amazing tapas restaurant, not the city that would be impossible to reach in a lyft). She and I had been there with Bill in May, and it's a great scene for brunch - my cocktail there was nice (although I was v. self-controlled and only had one), and the dishes were to die for (especially the steak and eggs and the spanish tortilla).

Then we came home, and I took a time out to send an email to my editor with the current half-finished draft of my book. Then I showered, talked to my parents, and almost got sucked in to an awful dance movie...but instead, Ritu and I rallied and went out for the night (where we treated tonight like the Saturday night we didn't have).

Our first stop was reached by taking a lyft with an incredibly weird, over-chatty driver who had apparently had every career in Boston over the past thirty years, but c'est la vie. Then we went to Drink, where we had two drinks each. Drink is a cocktail bar where they don't have a drinks menu and just ask you to give them a flavor profile to build the drink - this is a great idea in theory, but in practice I have trouble describing exactly what I like in a drink, and also they basically were just making classic/obscure cocktails and claiming they'd made them up. Or maybe they didn't claim they made them up, but that was the vibe I got.

Still, it was a great place to hang out for a couple of hours, even if my first bourbon cocktail (a 1794, apparently) was a little too bitter for my tastes, and the second (a Remember the Maine, which is great for the name alone) really didn't need absinthe. But the fries were awesome and the deviled eggs with bacon on top were the bomb dot com, so #noregrets.

Then we went to Sarma, which I'd been to with Ritu and Bill before - it's Mediterranean tapas, so I joked that we were having our eighteenth appetizer of the day there. The food was truly outstanding - the baked feta was one of the best things I've ever had, and the duck was perfectly cooked, and it was all incredible. My bourbon cocktails there were even better than the ones. So all in all, it was a great, crazy weekend and I also got a lot of work done - I'm going to call it a success. Goodnight!

the monsters turned out to be just trees

I was slightly hungover this morning, but tonight I am unusually up way too late because I was working - this is not a phrase I've ever typed while staying with Ritu, so take a screenshot because it won't last. I didn't sleep all that well last night from a combo of jetlag/alcohol/unfamiliar noises, so I laid in bed until ten, and then I got up and hung out with Ritu. We drank coffee and laughed and looked at pictures from her honeymoon (oddly, that was highly enjoyable and not at all something that I pretended to like doing), and we ate brie for breakfast, and it was all delightful.

But then we realized we should do something outside the house, so we v. quickly showered and drove out to Walden Pond. To my eyes, the fall colors were still gorgeous; to Ritu's eyes, they were boring and dead, since the leaves were much more vibrant a couple of weeks ago. But we parked and walked around part of the pond, and I really enjoyed it despite the fact that I had the wrong footwear for it. Thoreau clearly would have been an annoying hipster if he lived today, so we of course took some selfies and were generally jokey about the whole thing. But the fact that we rallied to do something outside that didn't involve alcohol is both rare and commendable for us, so I think you should all give us a round of applause.

After that, we were beyond starving, so we drove back to Brookline and had a v. late (3:45pm) lunch at Otto. They have a great gluten free pizza, which is what I got; Ritu got two premade slices and a salad because she had to eat really fast and go straight to work for her night shift. After she left, I lingered over my glass of wine, and then I walked back to her place and promptly took a nap.

That kind of derailed my intended productivity, since I was then a little too groggy/not in it to win it. But I made some coffee, messed around on the internet for too long, and then finally worked for most of the night. I was editing/cleaning up what I have, so there was no massive gain in wordcount, but what I did accomplish was good.

Now, though, I need to sleep - I want to do a bit more work in the morning before Ritu and I pursue our day of fun, and that requires a break from the screen. Goodnight!

take me to church

I'm in Boston and it's almost three a.m., and I've had more than my body weight in alcohol, which should not surprise you since I'm visiting Ritu, who is perhaps the only true rival Adit has in terms of consistent ability to push my liver past its limits. [note: I don't actually hold either of them responsible; clearly the strange, wonderful alchemy of our friendships encourages us to keep going long past when we all know we should stop, because who would want such a wonderful thing to stop? it's just that in most of my relationships, the other person is smart enough to call a halt after the fifth drink rather than getting a crazy light in their eyes and going all in....]

sssanyway. Today was pretty much perfect, although I only got five and a half hours of sleep. I was so disoriented when the alarm went off at 5:30am that I bolted awake, thought 'I don't go to work anymore and no one owns me!', and almost went back to sleep before remembering that I had a plane to catch. So I hustled through the shower and out the door, and I made it to the airport in time to eat a proper breakfast and get an iced coffee before boarding, which was perfectly timed.

The flight was super uneventful (after they got the boarding door closed, which looked dicey for about five minutes), and I actually wrote 3200+ words, which is close to my record for a non-end-of-book day. Apparently knowing that there is no internet to check is good for my creativity; who knew. And that was even with some breaks to enjoy my coffee and play sudoku on my phone.

When I got to Boston, I discovered that Ritu was working later than planned. At first I bought a coffee, but then I realized that I was about to have a heart attack from so much caffeine, so I threw it away and went to a bar, where I had a glass of wine and wrote some more. I got another 800 words in and finished the scene, which was super awkward - awkward because I was writing the prologue (which I'd been putting off until today, when I have a flash of genius insight and realized that the prologue needed to be Lucy's grandfather's death, not Lucy in London or any other time), and to conjure the emotion needed for the scene I was channeling my own grandfather's death, which I have mostly ignored/not processed/refused to acknowledge for the past fourteen years. So as I was writing, I would occasionally write a line that made tears streak down my face, which looked SUPER DRAMATIC since I was sitting in an airport bar (pre-security, where not a lot of people hang out), drinking wine and looking at my laptop and silently crying. Oops.

But the scene is great, so #noregrets. Then I took a cab (after an uber fiasco) to Ritu's, where we proceeded with our glorious reunion. She's great, as always, and we're great together, and everything is great. We started with dinner at La Voile, where we split a bottle of wine (I chose it poorly, or else it was bad, but we drank it all) and had foie gras with duck and lardons (super super rich, obvi), and then I had a ribeye with french fries. I only ate eight of the ten ounces, which was probably for the best...because as soon as we were done there, we went to Eastern Standard (where we've been together before) and had second dinner.

Second dinner has become a tradition of ours, but usually second dinner happens when first dinner is ~5pm and second dinner is at midnight. Tonight, first dinner was at 8:30 and second dinner was at 11, which was waaaaaay too close together - especially since, for second dinner, we split another steak. Lolololol. But I had a cocktail named Inca Tea (or something similar), with pisco and tea and all sorts of other goodness, which was delightful. Then, I switched to the Dutch Courage, which was mostly like an old fashioned, and I loved that as well.

At some point, Ritu's friend Steph (yet another Steph from the other two friends of Ritu's whose names are Steph) joined us, so Ritu and I had to stop congratulating each other on how great we are and incorporate her into the fold. Luckily, she was wearing a great shirt covered in elephants, so she fit right in. We finished off the steak (rather abruptly), and had dessert, and I declared that we weren't ordering a third drink because otherwise we would have had ten more. But our waiter, who adored us (okay, maybe he didn't adore us, but he humored Ritu for several minutes while she tried to convince him that 'Bread and Leather' would be a great title for a romance novel - and it's such a bad title that the single guy sitting next to me interjected himself into the conversation to say it was awful), took my joke about a shot-like cocktail to heart and ran with it, so we ended up with shots for the road (so welcome, so not necessary). Steph had had a drink called 'The Long Goodbye', and I had said that it would be great if they had shots called 'The Short Goodbye' - and he came back with our bill and three shotglasses of something that they chose to call 'The Final Word'. Apparently my ability to charm waitstaff into drinks spans timezones....

Then Ritu and I came home (with a truly weird lyft driver, but c'est la vie), and I am desperate for sleep. And I'm not as drunk as I thought I was, since typing wasn't much of a challenge tonight...but I'm sure I'll rectify that on Sunday (Ritu is working tomorrow night, so the liver gets a reprieve). Goodnight!

today i regret the night i put that ring on

Getting ready for my trip took waaaay longer than I intended, and so I got basically no writing done today, which is frustrating - especially since I think I might have figured out what was blocking me (note to self: when you wax philosophical about how you're so self-sabotaging, remember that within a day or two, you'll probably realize that something was wrong with the story and not your ability to focus) (note to readers: you are probably becoming just as familiar with my writing patterns as I am at this point).

However, I'm all packed up, and my kitchen is cleaned out (I feel like I do this every week...oh, wait, I do do it every week), and I did my civic duty and took my library books back and also voted. Voting took forever, thanks to California's rather idiotic ballot initiatives - there were 40+ between state and city initiatives, some of which contradicted each other (there was one to abolish the death penalty and one to speed up the death penalty; there was one to raise the tax on cigarettes with the ostensible goal of saving lives and one to legalize marijuana without any apparent concern about smoking; there were two different ones on plastic bags; there were like a million things about housing and taxes and homelessness). So I read up on all of them and generally voted my conscience, and then I walked it over to City Hall and dropped it off in person. And now I would like to abstain from all further political discussion until 2020, tanks.

And now I really need to go to bed and try to get six hours of sleep (luxury!) before getting up and going to the airport - goodnight!

brother what a night the people saw

I didn't watch the game, but let the record state that I'm v. happy for the Cubs - they have a farm team in Des Moines, so they were probably one of the earliest teams I ever knew anything about (even though I don't think that baseball is intrinsically interesting enough to merit playing 162+ games/year). And I hope that Chicago hasn't burned down by tomorrow morning!

I had a great day right up until the end of it, but now I'm ready for bed. The great part of the day was all the part that I didn't spend writing - I did a lot of other work tasks, did laundry, answered emails, etc., etc., all quite happily. I also got my hair cut and tried to convince my stylist to hire an escort for her birthday, which seems like a great idea, right? She was laughing hard enough that I was a little worried that she might just cut everything off by accident, but it turned out really well.

Then I came home, did some more work, and made zucchini lasagna for dinner - rather than following the recipe I have, I used the bolognese sauce that I made the other night in place of the more standard meat mix. That made making the lasagna really fast/easy - I just had to parboil the zucchini slices and mix up the egg/cottage cheese/mozzarella stuff. And the lasagna turned out sooooo well - it was perfect, and exactly what I wanted. Also, I made it in two 5x7" pyrex baking dishes, which meant I ate half of one tonight and have half leftover for tomorrow, and can freeze the other dish unbaked for a later date. #winning

But then I was going to write, and I fell down the black hole of World Series twitter and was really mad at myself for doing so. But I at least got thirty minutes of writing in at the end and am hoping to dream of the next scene tonight to make things easier - wish me luck with that.

Now, though, I'm going to sleep and remind myself that the story, on tonight's readthrough, is in better shape than I thought, and that this will all come together despite my endless bitching about it. Goodnight!

i ain't sorry

You know, it's really time for me to get my shit together on this writing thing. And by that I mean that, even though it's been six years since the first time I quit my day job for this (I can't believe that, but I just realized it's true), I somehow keep sabotaging myself in the same ways. The biggest form of sabotage is that I know the following to be true: I write almost exactly a thousand words an hour during my average pace (some days are less, some days are more, but that's where I usually end up). I also know that 2000-2500 words per day feel about right because that's close to a full chapter, and usually I need to take a break and think about where the next chapter's headed before I can write it, so I can't usually keep going beyond that without needing to stop.

And yet despite knowing that my ideal output of 2500 words/day can typically be accomplished in 2-3 hours, I don't happily sit down and do 2-3 hours of work and then move on to one of the literally dozens of things that I would like to do or that would make me happy or that would contribute to other areas of my business - instead, I feel guilty that it's not eight hours of writing, and so procrastinate, and thus throw away my time.

Ugh.

sssanyway. I mention this because I was worried that today was headed where yesterday went (aka nowhere), since I did some stuff from 9:30 to 1:30 but mostly procrastinated and only wrote for 20mins. However, I then went to San Bruno to meet up with Barbara, Anne, and Veronica - and in the 90 minutes I spent writing today, I wrote 2600 words. Granted, it was an easy scene (finishing something with Lucy and her butler, and starting something with Max and his more mysterious sister). So really, 9:30 to 1:30 would have been better spent reading or taking a walk or cooking or sleeping or day drinking or doing anything other than reading the internet and claiming that I'd start writing in five minutes.

I write this here only because I think it's finally time for me to own the fact that the writing part of my job can typically be done in 2-3 hours per day (at least rough draft mode; final draft mode often demands longer hours, but I can edit for a lot longer than I can pull words out of nowhere). And if I own that, then I need to figure out how to maximize the business side of my time, and also make sure I'm doing things that bring me happiness rather than reading every article ever written about the royal family (not that I do that...but I totally do that).

So. That's one part of today. The other part of today is that I had dinner with the Shedletskys - I hadn't seen them since before they went to Japan, and I wanted to hear all about their trip (which sounds like it was fantastic). They're a delightful couple, as per usual, and they're worth driving to San Mateo for (granted, I was already in San Bruno, which makes it a little more palatable). Then I came home, messed around online, hated myself for that, and then cleared my inboxes (shocker!).

And now I'm going to sleep - goodnight!

say hello, wave goodbye

I had the day I probably needed to have from a life standpoint, but not the day I needed to have from a word-production standpoint. It's been so long, it seems, since I was actually home that I wanted to take care of all the things - which mostly meant cooking, with some tidying up and a lot of crossing things off lists. I slept later than planned, and then I made a frittata so that I have breakfast for the next few days (until I leave again, actually) - this frittata was chopped onion, spinach, diced ham, and cheddar, and it was quite possibly the best of all the ones I've made so far. I chopped the other half of the ham and threw it in the freezer so I can make this again when I get back, and I should do the same with the spinach (and some of the other veggies in my fridge, since I'll be gone again before I can eat everything).

Then I showered and did some work until it was time to meet up with Adit for a late lunch - I hadn't seen him since before I went to Iowa back in September, and I'm unlikely to see him again for awhile, and he's on paternity leave, so it made sense to get together. We met up at Morning Due for old times' sake, which was as delightful as always (and their greek salad with chicken is incredibly yummy). His back was hurting and I was still a little surly from hitting my introvert wall, so we were rather lowkey, but it was still great to hang out.

Then I came home (with a stop at Philz) and spent way more time than I should have making an extravagant bolognese sauce (which I made three weeks ago - it's only extravagant in the sense that it takes a lot of time, not because the ingredients are particularly crazy). I'm cutting all grains again at the moment because my hands have started hurting again, which leads me to believe that I am having some sort of inflammation issue that was temporarily helped by my whole-30-ish diet last month - so when the sauce was done, I ate a bowl of it with some cheese and nothing else, and it was incredible. However, I have grand plans to make a mini zucchini lasagna with it for Wednesday/Thursday - I think it would kick the usual lasagna up a notch, and I'm eager to test it out.

And then I mostly procrastinated the evening away, since I was luxuriating in the feel of being alone - but I finally opened the manuscript and thought about it for a little bit and made some edits, so hopefully it won't be as hard to get back into it tomorrow. But tomorrow will come all too soon, so it's time for bed - goodnight!

we are explorers

As you may have guessed from the brevity and content of last night's post, today was all about paying the wages of my sins. Yesterday was worth it, though. Lauren, Terry and I went up to Calistoga, and we made it to town by 11am - just in time to rendezvous with the driver we'd hired to take us around the wineries, since none of us particularly wanted to stay sober. We stopped at a grocery store to buy sandwiches first (I had a v. yummy gluten free one that made me long for the days when I could have sandwiches anywhere and anytime I wanted), and then we went to Duckhorn for our first tasting.

Duckhorn has a variety of wines, and they make the Decoy line that is my go-to for home drinking. However, the tasting room primarily serves from the actual Duckhorn line - and that, as it turns out, was delicious. Our server perhaps recognized an easy mark when he saw one, because he poured almost twice as many wines as were technically included in the tasting - including a pinot noir that I really liked, and a fantastic red blend called 'The Discussion' (the only discussion was how much I wanted to drink more of it). He also slipped an extra bottle of that one into Terry's box when she bought some of the wines, so that was pretty delightful. But even if the wines had sucked (which they didn't), the setting was perfect - it was very autumnal in Calistoga, and I was in love with the rain and mist and falling leaves.

After Duckhorn, we went to Grgich Hills, where their lack of vowels in no way indicates their ability to make a tasty wine. Because of the rain there weren't any tasting on the patio, which meant the tasting room was crowded - but when we finally got a space, the heavens opened and all the wine appeared, and it was glorious. Not only did all the wine appear, but the original Mr. Grgich himself made an appearance - he sat in a chair and signed bottles of wine for people, including one woman who was rather shockingly amorous (and it was unclear whether Mr. Grgich liked it or if he just didn't have the mobility necessary to get away - he needs a panic button or something, since it took a few minutes for the staff to discreetly peel her off of him).

sssanyway. We tasted many wines there, and we purchased a whole bunch of them - between the three of us, I think we walked away with two cases. Then we went to Lava Vine, which was decidedly not as great as Grgich or Duckhorn from a wine standpoint - but they're newer, and the vibe was cool and we were able to sit outside on a picnic table and talk, so it was a great way to wind down.

Then our driver dropped us off, we checked into our hotel (we got a cute cottage that was perfect for the three of us), and we walked to Solage, which is way way fancier than our hotel. We were able to sit at the bar and have dinner there, and the food was as incredible as I'd heard it was - my steak was totally perfect, and the fries and oysters we had to start may have saved my life. What didn't save my life was the cocktail (delicious, totally not a good idea) and the glass of wine (and also Terry's wine, which she barely started before giving to me), and the Irish coffee....but c'est la vie.

So when we got back to the hotel sometime after ten p.m., we sat around and watched SNL just because we couldn't quite go to bed yet, and I think we all were subconsciously dreading how we would feel this morning and so weren't ready for the night to end....

...and that was the right call, because I felt like death this morning. It wasn't the worst ever and I feel okay now, but I only got four good hours of sleep (the other four were in a half-awake fugue state), and I didn't have enough water or caffeine yesterday to combat the overwhelming wine experience (you would think I'm an amateur at this). Lauren, of course, made it clear that she is a far superior human being, because she got up at 7:30 and took my car to her favorite trail in Calistoga and ran for 6-7 miles in the middle of a rainstorm (it started raining five minutes after she left - I'm not sure she would have done it if it had been raining when she woke up, but she might have because she's amazing). Then we had breakfast at the hotel, drove back to SF (with a stop at McDonald's for hash browns, which is a clear sign of how hungover we all were), and parted ways. Terry's on her way back to NYC, but hopefully the three of us will all see each other again around Thanksgiving.

When I got home, I was totally wiped out, so I slept for two hours, which was v. restorative. Then I messed around, ordered some groceries, unpacked, and called my parents. I spent the evening taking care of business stuff, none of which is interesting to you...and now I need to sleep so I can write a million words tomorrow, since this weekend was not good for the wordcount. Goodnight!

me and my whoadies 'bout to stroll up

I've had way too much fun and way too much wine, but I think I'll make it through the night. I'm in Calistoga, where I spent the day with Lauren (you may know her as Subz) and Terry, and we went to many wineries and had a fabulous over the top dinner.

But that's all you're getting because typing is hard and wine is great and my head hurts and my heart is full of happiness - goodnight!

and it starts sometime around midnight

I'm so tired - considering that I got enough sleep last night, I think it's because of my introvert wall. Or it's because I spent 4+ hours driving home in rather treacherous conditions - it rained most of the way through the mountains and in the most traffic-y areas of the flatlands, which took more focus than your run-of-the-mill roadtrip. Or it's because I'm an octogenarian at heart, but I'm choosing not to believe that.

However, despite my incredible exhaustion, the trip was a success. I woke up this morning and showered and packed and helped clean out the house, and it all went quite smoothly. Grace and I were going to leave by ten, but we ended up hanging out with Anne and Barbara F until their ride showed up at 10:45, so we were later getting on the road than intended. But we had our usual highly entertaining car ride together - we talked about the unique vagaries of the historical romance publishing world, and we overanalyzed my relationships (all of my romance writer friends are married, and I think they find the modern dating world fascinating - or, as Grace called it, 'a special kind of hell' - and she's a trained psychologist, so I trust her judgment on this one). We also stopped at Starbucks for lunch and still made it to her place before three, so that was great.

I dropped her off and drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, which was as gorgeous as it ever is - unusually, it was raining in Marin and relatively clear in SF, so it felt like the skies opened up and welcomed me home on my way into the city (unlike my drive to Grace's last week, when the bridge was completely fogged over and everything else was clear). Then I came home and promptly lost all motivation and ability to function - as soon as I had the car in the garage, I was ready to pass out. However, I forced myself to stay up (although I ordered thai food instead of going to the grocery store and making an elaborate dinner like I'd fantasized about on the drive over the Golden Gate). And I watched two episodes of "Project Runway", which is about as much as I was capable of accomplishing. But now, even though it's not even ten, I'm going to go to bed - I have to get up early and pack some stuff and go off on another adventure, so sleep is more important than anything else. Goodnight!

endless island

There is finally internet, but it's my last night in Tahoe and so I'm too tired to do this blog justice anyway. All in all, it was a very productive week - I wrote almost forty pages, and I spent a lot of glorious time talking about writing and business and life with some of my favorite writer friends. It still fascinates me that this group can come together in virtually any permutation (duos, triads, quads, whole group, whatever) and have a great conversation in which everyone is engaged and no one hates each other. It's hard to find that kind of cohesion in a group of eight (although we were only seven this time), and since we've now had several successful weeks together, I'm hopeful that this will continue for a long time to come.

Still, despite the cohesion and general feel-good vibes, my introvert soul is close to being ready to get the fuck out. I'll miss it once I'm gone, and I actually could stay here quite happily for another few days - but I need to get some writing done and recharge my introvert batteries for the much harder task of going to a writing conference where I know almost no one (and am sharing a room with Barbara S, which will be delightful because I love her, but also exhausting because room-sharing means less downtime).

So, today was all about trying to get stuff done - unfortunately, the internet was down most of the morning, and I squandered that quiet time by freaking out over the fact that the internet was down. But I did what I could do, and I ate lunch, and then I dragged Anne and Bella to Nevada, where we had a v. productive writing session in the Starbucks in Harrah's. Then we came home, had a bit of downtime, and then went out for dinner - we sacrificed our usual Riva Grill for a new spot (Azul, which was Mexican fusion), which was really delicious and encouraged me to eat way too much.

Then we came home again, and I sat around in the other house, but the introvert wall hit hard and I realized it was time to come back to my room. And now I need to sleep rather desperately - I need to get up and pack and clean out the house so we can leave by ten, which means sleep now is imperative. Goodnight!

cold tenderness

Again, the Internet has conspired to keep me from writing a real blog post. Today was one of those days where nothing with the story felt quite right - I got four pages, but it was all boring. But I spent some quality time with the group, drinking wine and eating Christie's delicious fettuccine alfredo (with gluten free pasta for my share) and getting them to help me brainstorm a possible lifestyle blog (because I need another blog). And Anne and I took a late night walk in the cold to catch Pokémon, which was as ridiculous as it sounds.

And now I need to sleep so I can do great things with my last day here - goodnight!

she left a little letter said she's gonna make a stop in nevada

The internet is once again not working, and I'm once again going to bed late, so I'm going to make a brief post from my phone and go to bed. But today was more of the glorious same...I did business stuff in the morning, ate some leftover soup, and then absconded with Anne and Bella to Starbucks for a writing-date-within-a-writing-retreat. The first Starbucks wasn't conducive to writing, so we drove to Nevada (0.4mi away) and went to the Starbucks in Harrahs casino, which was surprisingly productive.

Then we came home, Grace made dinner, and we sat around the table (in me and Grace and Bella's house rather than the other house - it's identical, but we always hang out in the other one, and so this felt like weird bizarre world because they're mirror images of each other), and we somehow had an amazing conversation even though this was our fifth night together. Anne, Bella and I closed it down, and I accidentally scared the crap out of Bella and Grace by claiming Grace was a clown (you had to be there, obvi).

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

rattling cages

Well, today was something. Luckily, that something was highly enjoyable - but it's almost 12:30am and I had intended to have a quiet night, and instead I drank my share of most of two bottles (it only wasn't two bottles because I refrained from the last glass I wanted to have and Barbara S switched to beer).

But, y'know, c'est la vie. I spent the morning getting some work done (quite decently), and then I took a break for lunch. I didn't let myself break for long, but then Grace and I escaped our compound and ran a quick errand - I wanted a long-sleeved shirt because I packed super badly (and by that I mean I packed almost perfectly but forgot to bring a hoodie), and so I bought a cheap Tahoe souvenir shirt, and then we grabbed coffee at Starbucks before heading home. And then I worked for another solid two hours, which was v. necessary.

But I had to break earlier than I wanted because it was my turn to make supper, so I ran across the street for some groceries, and then went to the other house and cooked. I made my now-famous chicken tortilla soup, which is a group favorite, and it turned out v. v. well, if I do say so myself. But it always takes awhile to cook, so I had a glass of wine with Barbara S. (and Christie, who drinks white, and Anne, who drinks beer) while it cooked, and then we all sat around the table and talked and laughed for far too long. Bella came up tonight since she wasn't able to make it up over the weekend, so that was a fun addition to the group; unfortunately, Tina was supposed to come up with her as well and wasn't able to because she's sick, so we're capped out at seven instead of eight. But it was all v. delightful, and as usual I enjoyed myself immensely (especially when I started joking about becoming Christie's stepmother, which was awesome, although you would have to be there).

Eventually, most people went to bed, and I had a highly enjoyable (in a very different way) convo about writing with Barbara S and Anne. Then, Barbara went to bed and Anne and I talked about life and travel, but we were interrupted by Grace, who needed to run to Safeway for something, and we convinced her to drive my car and take us with her so that she wasn't walking to Safeway in the rain at midnight. And then we came home, and now I believe I should sleep - the wine won't help with that, but I'm going to have to persevere anyway. Yes, life is hard. Goodnight!

i wanna breathe that fire again

blogging is difficult again tonight - this time it's not because I'm drunk or exhausted, but because the Internet is down again and I don't feel like writing a lot on my phone. Also, today felt kind of wasted - thanks to last night's politics + my share of two bottles of wine, I was not in it to win it this morning. And I think I was stuck in this scene because I didn't really have the right idea of what I was trying to accomplish, so the words felt like a meandering mess all day.

But I got some writing done, and I called my parents, and I went to dinner with the group at MacDuff's Pub, which is home to some totally delish cottage pie. And I limited myself to one glass of wine, so even though I spent the time after dinner sitting in the main house and having an increasingly ridiculous conversation with everyone, I was at least able to pry myself away at ten and start winding down.

So tomorrow is another day and I'm going to seize it. Also, today wasn't actually bad - my writer friends are delightful, and now I'm daydreaming of walking across England on the coast to coast trail with Barbara S. Or, I'm just daydreaming of conning Anne into making me some more gluten free cookies...either way sounds good to me. Goodnight!

internet friends

no blog tonight - I'm typing from my phone because the internet is down, and I need to sleep immediately. But I got some great words in today, and I ate some delicious fajitas made my Barbara S, and Barbara S and I split two bottles of wine (I was only going to have a glass, but we went deep into politics and I should've had someone hold my earrings while I went hardcore on the plight of middle America...), and I stayed up late with Anne and Christie, and it was all delightful.

But now I need to sleep - I want to write more words tomorrow, and I also committed to making dinner, so I should try to recover from the wine so I can be productive in the morning. Goodnight!

can you read my mind

I'm thoroughly exhausted after getting approximately five hours of sleep last night and driving to Tahoe today - but despite my exhaustion levels (and the fact that I'm trying to go to bed by ten p.m., which is unheard of), today was still lovely. I woke up and scurried around like a madwoman trying to get my apartment in order and get myself packed up to go to Tahoe, which resulted in me leaving 45mins later than planned - but as there was no real set schedule for the day, that was fine, I guess. Also, I ate chicken and sweet potatoes for breakfast because I didn't want to cook anything and still had some left over - you do not care about this, but I'm writing it as a note to myself that chicken and sweet potatoes for breakfast are actually really good.

Then, I drove to Mill Valley and picked up Grace - we rode up to Tahoe together, and I was thrilled to have her to myself for a few hours. Somehow, the trips always work out so that we have at least one long drive together, and this one was perfect. We had tons to catch up on and we talked all the way to Tahoe, with a stop in Placerville to enjoy our traditional In-n-Out lunch. We got up here around 2:45; Anne and Barbara were already here, so we hung out with them and waited for the other Barbara and Christie to show up (in an uber from the Reno airport, since they had to fly in). Then we settled our room assignments (I'm in the second house, but I have the master bedroom, which is possibly bigger than my apartment...and now that I've said that, I'm actually super depressed), and we went to the grocery store and stocked up on some stuff.

We then spent the evening talking goals and publishing and life, and eating takeout pizza, and it was all as wonderful as it always is. But now I'm so tired that I'm taking the extremely unusual step of going to bed early - I'm determined to write tons on this trip, and that means resting now so I can hit the grind hard tomorrow. Goodnight!

you're gonna wish you could go back and fold

I need to go to bed RIGHT NOW. Actually, I needed to go to bed two hours ago. But today was a long slog involving writing and tons of research black holes, along with some laundry and packing...and then I had a v. long, v. sparsely attended Loro mini-reunion. That involved dinner with Walter and Tommy, and then Walter and I had a drink for an hour before hanging out with Tom, Greg, Julie, and Rat. Of the six people who showed up (other than me), I saw three of them in the last week, so not all of it was a blast from the past. However, I was really happy to see the people who were able to make it, so #noregrets.

But I have to get up in six hours to finish packing and drive to Tahoe, so no more blogging - goodnight!

arrival to an empty room

Today was full of writing and errands and despairing about the writing, and now I'm longing for my bed. I got up later than I wanted (but also earlier than I wanted, since I didn't go to bed until 1am last night), and had to scurry quickly so that I could walk down to Union Street to see my aesthetician. After that, I went to Caffe Union, where I had the bar to myself, so I was able to enjoy my poached eggs and salmon and hollandaise while talking to Tony -- apparently he had begun to wonder where I was, so it's good that I went in while I had the chance.

After that, I stayed on Union Street - I went to the Illy coffee place and spent too much time on twitter, but then I managed to get some decent writing done. Then I walked home (with a stop at Lululemon to buy a sports bra, and a stop at Blick to buy more colored pencils than are strictly necessary, but I'm saying it's vital to my process).

When I got home, I was really not in it to win it, so I messed around online and took a nap. But then I rallied and put some chicken and sweet potatoes in the oven; while that was cooking, I cleaned up the kitchen and also packaged some stuff to take to Tahoe on Friday (we all travel with our own idiosyncratic needs, since each writer has those things that she thinks are vital to getting work done - in my case, it's an oversized mug, a couple of flavors of tea bags, coffee so I can make cold brew, and some pre-measured spices so I can make chicken tortilla soup for the group without having to buy jars of spices in Tahoe).

In case you couldn't tell from that timeline, I didn't watch the debate; I wasn't in the mood to have my mood further ruined, and I wanted to get some more work done tonight. Happily, I did manage to write another few pages after I ate, so that's good.

And now, I'm desperate for sleep and eager to get stuff done tomorrow - goodnight!

gotta gotta be down because i want it all

I feel pretty good about today, despite not throwing enough words into the trenches - I keep trying to remind myself that this stage of the draft is like shoveling sand into a sandbox so that I can later make a sandcastle, and that the sand-shoveling process ain't pretty. But I wrote, and that's something. I also spent the morning taking care of some tasks, going to the grocery store, and feeding myself, all of which were worthy endeavors.

Then I sped to the south bay and had a writing date with Anne and Barbara in San Mateo. The downside of these dates is that I don't usually get enough words to justify the time investment, but the upside is that they keep me sane, so.....I guess I'll keep doing them. But not tomorrow or Thursday - I need to be wildly productive at home, and also prepare to leave for Tahoe (with Anne and Barbara, among other people) on Friday.

However, despite the fact that I wrote for a grand total of 50mins in the three hours I was with them, it was still a delightful afternoon. Then I drove even deeper into the bowels of the south bay to have a friendship renewal dinner at Shana Thai in Mountain View. I hadn't been to Shana Thai in months (I think the last time was with Heather), and I hadn't had a friendship renewal dinner in even longer - while Jen Lui was working in SF, we kind of splintered off and did our own fancy ladies' dinners rather than schlepping ourselves south. And I've seen Joann a few times in the last few months as well. But tonight was the full complement - Tolu, Jane, and Lizzie were there as well as Joann and Jen, so we had a lot to catch up on.

Thanks to the ever-shifting employment dynamics, all five of them are now working for my former employer; we all started together in 2003, and then four of the six of us left, and then the people who left went back (and in my case left again). Jen was the last holdout on returning, but she went through new hire orientation this week, so it looks like she's been recaptured. I was the only one who isn't currently employed there, but they still seem to enjoy my company, so I'm going to enjoy the friend ride while it lasts.

When we were done, I drove home and watched an episode of Project Runway before doing a bit more work. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

pick up the receiver i'll make you a believer

I'm super sleepy...today was a good day, but it required more effort than I would have wanted to expend. I spent the morning sleeping later than I should have (mostly because I was wiped out from the weekend), but I rallied and dragged myself out of bed and made some eggs and worked for a couple of hours. Then I hurriedly showered and ate some lunch (bolognese sauce with lots of cheese and no noodles at all, which satisfied my desire to avoid grains even if it was weird to eat sauce by itself - but it was so meaty that it was almost like eating chili or maidrites or something, and it was totally fucking delicious). And then I drove down to San Bruno for a writing date.

As usual, the writing date wasn't as productive as it could have been - I find that I get good industry stuff + good socializing out of meeting with this group, but I'm not quite as wordcount-happy as I could be. However, I still got four pages, which wasn't bad. Then, I drove to San Mateo and worked for another hour at the Philz, where a jackhammer next door seriously harshed my mellow - but I scribbled in my notebook and realized what's currently blocking me, so that was great.

And then, when it was finally time, I went next door and had dinner with my friend Amber at Curry Up Now. I've mentioned Amber before, I think; she's a romance novelist who is also an Episcopal priest, and we typically have great conversations. Tonight was no different - we did tons of catching up and talking about the state of romance fiction, fueled in no small part by delish food + tasty cocktails (I was drinking the 'bandit queen', which I would have picked for the name alone - it was basically whisky with some bitters, and it was dangerously good).

Eventually, though, I came home, and now I am contemplating my bed + all the things I have to do this week. Goodnight!

only way to go is up

I'm exhausted, and I've been exhausted all day...which is mostly my own fault, since I didn't go to bed early enough, and also was sleeping in an unfamiliar bed, and also had my full share of two bottles of wine last night, and also am still somewhat recovering from being sick. This resulted in me mostly bailing on all my plans today, which was kind of a bummer...but more on that in a sec.

I had a v. lazy morning in San Jose - thanks to my aforementioned issues, I didn't really get out of bed until ten, which was about two hours later than I had planned for. When I rolled downstairs, Salim was just starting to make breakfast, so I drank some coffee and sat at the counter and talked to him while he cooked. Heather (aka dear respected madam) eventually came down as well, and we had a leisurely breakfast (eggs and bacon for me, pancakes and bacon for them), and I begged Salim for more coffee because I wasn't sure I could survive without it.

Even before breakfast was served, I texted people to cancel plans. The main plan was with Katrina - I was supposed to do a tour of Victorian homes with her and a couple of her friends, but knew I was going to be pushing it (even in the best case) to get back to the city in time). I was also supposed to get together with Tom and write, but that didn't happen either. So, I ate, and I drank a lot of coffee, and I talked to Heather, and I was v. loath to leave...

...but I had to leave eventually. So I said my farewells, and I drove home, and it took longer than I wanted (it was raining, which made for a stressful drive). When I got here, I was so tired that I laid down on the couch, and during my nap I slept through my nap alarm (that never happens), which means I got an hour of sleep but definitely couldn't make any afternoon plans happen. Then I called my parents, who were delightful. And then I thought about working, but instead wasted time on the internet....

...and then my plans with Tom rekindled themselves, since our original plan had been to write and then have dinner with Julie, and he held me to the dinner plan even though the writing plan hadn't worked out. So I threw on some pants again and took a lyft to Julie and Deano's place. We drank the bottle of champagne I took over, and we ate some v. delicious fish with potatoes/mushrooms and also some of the best brussels sprouts I've ever had at someone's house (Tom made them even though he doesn't live there, and they were perfect). Our conversation was super fun, and then took a sideways turn into a big argument about the Komen Foundation, which was quite entertaining (I've spent so much time arguing recently that it's making me revive my old dream of going into journalism/media....).

But then I came home, and now I really should sleep - I need to get back into some healthy sleep patterns so I can be more productive in the morning. Goodnight!

lay a whisper on my pillow

I'm in an undisclosed location - and by that I mean I'm in Heather's guest room in San Jose, thanks to a sleepover that we arranged months ago. I haven't had a sleepover with her in over two years, I think, and it's been way too long. I got here a little before six, and we talked and talked and gossiped, and Salim made us dinner (apparently steak and baked potatoes served at home makes me instinctively feel like we have to say grace, since that meal is so Midwestern). Then we talked a lot more, and finished the first bottle of wine and opened a second, and we watched a bunch of tv (the end of Pretty Woman, most of Divergent (and I spoiled the end of the series for heather, since she saw the most recent movie and thought it was the end, which doesn't bode well for how they split up the third book into two movies), and all of SNL (the first time I've watched it all live in more than a decade, I think). I also had a v close encounter with their dog (Peaches, a five year old bulldog), and we told a lot of stories, and it was delightful.

The rest of my day was good as well - I woke up too late bc I went to bed at 1:30 last night (which I'm about to do again), and so I didn't get much done before leaving the house. I went to Cupertino at 1:15 and met Walter and Carson and their baby for lunch l, and we spent a couple of hours having a grand old time. Then I wrote at a coffee shop for an hour, and got four pages, which was better than might have been expected with my socializing.

And now I desperately need to sleep - I have plans all day tomorrow, and they're all looking slightly or wildly unlikely given my current state of exhaustion + distance from the city + my need to write + the rain, but we'll see. Goodnight!

i was too strong, you were trembling

Today was fantastic, despite the rain. I woke up, showered, ate some eggs, took care of some business-y things, and then ran out the door to drive west, and west some more, until I came to the end of the city (and the continent) and reached the Legion of Honor. Okay, it's not quite on the ocean, but it's close. My friend Veronica and I met there for another writing/museum date, and it was just as fabulous as the one we had at the de Young a few weeks ago. My membership gets two people in for free to either de Young or Legion of Honor whenever I want, and this is turning out to be an excellent writing date strategy.

I vaguely prefer the cafe at the de Young...but Legion of Honor has all the old European art, which is my jam. Also, the sandwich I had there (warm chicken, brie, and pears on gluten free bread) was one of the most delicious things I've had in forever. And, best of all, I had some entertaining convos with Veronica, and saw some art, and wrote ten pages (including some lines with some guy named Titus, who just kinda showed up and stole the show), so that was pretty awesome.

We parted ways around three, and I came home, took care of some tings, and then got a mani/pedi. I haven't had a mani/pedi since August, so my hands and feet were feeling pretty gnarly, but the good ladies at Silk cleaned them up for me (and my manicurist told me a v. entertaining story about the only time she ever got drunk and how she thought she was going to die; she asked me how many times I've gotten drunk, and I was so taken aback that I only said 'more than once').

Then, I was planning to have a low-key night at home (mostly because I was so sick this last week that I didn't make any new plans; the only things on the docket for this weekend are things I've been planning for awhile). But Claudia texted me while I was getting my nails done, so she ended up coming over (and bringing an awesome bottle of wine), and I fed her the bolognese sauce I made last night (it was incredibly delicious today - definitely something that benefits from sitting and melding for awhile). We had a lot to catch up on, since we've both been traveling and I haven't seen her since my birthday.

So we had a v. lowkey catchup and drank the bottle of wine and sat around until almost 11:30. And then I was going to go to bed immediately, but instead I wasted time online - which I'm way too prone to do anyway, but it feels even stupider at one in the morning. So now I need to sleep so that I can write before pursuing my social plans tomorrow - goodnight!

i love cheap thrills

I caught up on a lot of things that were necessary to feel human again - three loads of laundry, for example, which I'd been putting off since getting back from Iowa thanks to my stupid cold. I also did some things that were unnecessary, but good for my sanity - I tried a new recipe for bolognese sauce, which took several hours, but the sauce was to die for (it would be great in lasagna; the gluten free penne I put it on wasn't quite as delightful, but c'est la vie). And I talked to Katie, who always delights me (especially when she teaches me a fabulously dirty word - not that she would do that, since she's an upstanding citizen, but even upstanding citizens say things like 'Poonghazi' in the current election cycle).

sssanyway. I did not, however, write as much as I had intended to, because I'm apparently a lazy wench. A lazy wench who is running very behind on her deadline...which means I should probably sleep so that I can try again tomorrow. Goodnight!

rushing through her veins like it's ecstasy

My illness is still slowly working its way out of my system - I didn't wake up coughing last night, but I did sleep for almost ten hours, so hopefully that's progress. Of course, that meant I didn't make as much progress as I'd hoped on the book...but between my morning session at home and an afternoon session in Burlingame with Anne, Barbara, and Veronica, I came very close to my time goal for the day (even if I was feeling stuck on some key points and so was writing slower than usual).

But all of that was good, so I'll take it. Then I drove home, took care of some tings (but not enough tings), and met Lauren (aka Subz) for dinner at Troya. We had a delightful conversation and I jealously admired her hair (so much so that it might finally be time for me to cut mine off...we'll see), so that made for a great couple of hours.

And now, after giving you absolutely nothing of note, I need to indulge my lungs and go to bed - goodnight!

cut your teeth

Yesterday was great for writing, and today wasn't. I woke up with grand plans (despite too much coughing), but I got sidetracked by some administrative stuff, and then I couldn't get in the zone. Finally, I walked over to Fillmore and tried writing at Starbucks - but I sat next to the wrong person (a slightly batty old woman who might have been in the early stages of dementia, or maybe just doesn't have any social skills), and she kept trying to talk to me. I still got two pages, but that was a far cry from yesterday's productivity.

Then I stopped at Whole Foods on the way home, which took too long since it was peak time. Then I made soup, which also took way longer than anticipated - the recipe claimed 45mins, but it took more like 80. The soup was an attempt to rid myself of this cold once and for all - I can't have chicken noodle soup, and I'm avoiding corn, so chicken tortilla soup was also out. But I made some paleo-type chicken soup with carrots, celery, onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, cauliflower, and other herbs, and it turned out pretty well. I thought it cooked down a little too much, so I added some extra liquid before storing it - but otherwise, it was what I wanted.

As I was getting ready to eat it, Chandlord showed up unexpectedly, so we caught up for awhile. After she left, I was going to write - but it still didn't happen, and now I'm tired. Tomorrow's another day, though - so I'm going to take my cough and my surliness and go to bed. Goodnight!

the island of deceased ships

I'm finally getting back into the grind, although I'm still not 100% healthwise - but if I waited to write until I felt totally perfect, I would probably never finish another book. I spent the morning at Philz, where I wrote and drank coffee; then I came home and ate some leftover thai (I had wanted pho to promote continued healing of my body, but after walking through some horrific blocks of Tenderloin madness, I discovered that Mangosteen was closed for Columbus Day - so if I had been stabbed, it would have been for naught). Then I slept for an hour, which was v. necessary.

But then I forced myself off the couch, took a shower, and wrote some more in the afternoon/evening. All in, I got twelve pages, which is the best I've done in forever, so I'm pleased with that. And then I spent the evening watching Project Runway and taking care of administrative tasks - so all in all, it was a pretty good day.

However, I'm still mildly sick and majorly sleepy, so it's time for bed - goodnight!

wanna put my tender heart in a blender

Today started off rather delightfully, mostly because I slept through the night without waking up to cough for an hour in the middle of it. So, I took the opportunity to indulge by sleeping for nine hours, which I probably really needed. Then I got up, messed around online, took a shower, and made breakfast (sweet potato hash, which I'd frozen v. thoughtfully for myself a month ago, and two fried eggs) before walking down to Hayes Valley to meet up with Katrina.

We had a 'writing date' at Arlequin, which meant we caught up for a couple of hours about a variety of topics, and I simultaneously missed my old job and realized that I need to write so I never have to work for a corporation again. Then, we actually did write, and I got a few pages, so I was v. pleased with that.

Then I walked home and sat on my patio for an hour and basked in the sunshine while talking to my parents. And then I drank half a bottle of wine and watched the debate, which I did with my shirt pulled over my face for much of it, which is a very Terry-like move (she would watch with her eyes covered whenever something was awkward) - I wonder what it would have been like watching with her. But I prefer my debate watching to happen in silence, alone, while writhing in discomfort over where everything is headed and how fucked we are with our current media and our current political system.

But at least I blogged - I told my dad that if I didn't blog tonight, it was because I was sad, not dead, and so not to assume the worst, but I recovered enough to type this. And now I'm going to get offline and scribble in my notebook or watch tv or daydream about the apocalypse - goodnight!

don't let me down down down

I'm not in the mood to blog tonight - today was fine, but nothing of interest happened. I woke up coughing, spent the morning tackling stuff around the house, spent too much time in the afternoon reading social media (everything is imploding and I can't look away), and eventually did a couple of hours of writing, so I guess that's good. And I watched an episode of 'Project Runway', which didn't help in terms of getting me to look away from screens, but at least it wasn't my laptop.

But that's all boring, and I have nothing else to share, so this is all you're getting. Goodnight!

i tell my love to wreck it all

I'm still not feeling well, which is getting to be a real drag. So, today was kind of a wash - I slept better last night, thanks to my octogenarian-style bed that enabled me to sleep at an incline, but I was not feeling in it to win it this morning. So I sat around and did some mindless research, and then showered and went to Lers Ros to grab lunch.

The walk there and back reminded me that I live in an apocalyptic wasteland - it's getting a little too depressing to see the same extreme scenes of poverty and prostitution and drug use in the middle of the day in the middle of one of the richest cities in the world. And I don't know what the solution is...but I'm finding nothing charming about any of it at the moment.

Or maybe that's my illness talking - the walk to Lers Ros took a lot out of me, which was compounded by the fact that I hadn't had any caffeine all day because I didn't have any milk/cream. So I grabbed an iced coffee at Peets, came home, grabbed my car, and drove to the Mission, where I got my bangs trimmed. Then I came home and napped for an hour as the Blue Angels roared through the skies overhead, because I couldn't bear to do anything else.

By that point the day had mostly slipped away from me. However, I forced myself to write for twenty minutes, and I got a page and a half - I'm testing out a new method of writing in twenty-minute increments, and the rule is that I have to write at least one twenty-minute increment every day. If there's a day when I'm not feeling it beyond that, fine - but I have to at least do one. I think this will be good in the long run; tonight, I probably would have kept going if I'd had time, after I finally forced myself to do it.

But I didn't have time - I had to meet Julie for a drink at Home Rules. I hadn't seen her in awhile, and so I didn't want to cancel despite not feeling all that great. And it was worth it, since it was good to see her - we sat outside (the weather, at least, was gorgeous today, even if the city isn't) and had a cocktail and split some nachos. Then, we went to her place briefly, where I said hi to Deano (her husband) and Tom and their friend Aron, whom I hadn't seen in forever.

But I was feeling tapped out, so I came home. I then read a book - Tessa Dare's latest, which is "Do You Want to Start a Scandal". I haven't read a historical romance other than my own in at least a year, and I'm thinking I need to see if there are trends in the market that I'm missing. And, I really needed something light and fluffy given my physical state. This fit the bill - I must have skimmed quite a bit, because I finished it in two hours, and I don't think it was that short. But the dialogue was charming and the story was fun, so at least I enjoyed that, even if I didn't end up feeling super connected to the characters.

And now I need to sleep and hope that I'll keep getting better - goodnight!

but i swear in the days still left we'll walk in fields of gold

I'm back in San Francisco, at least for the moment. Today started off with some mild exhaustion - I coughed for an hour at some point last night, and then I woke up at 6:45 so that I could say goodbye to my dad. He couldn't go to the airport today because he had another commitment, so we said goodbye in the kitchen, which was super weird - I think this is the first time in the 15+ years that I've been going places that my mom and I went to the airport by ourselves.

After my dad left, I went back to bed for 45mins, and then I got up, ate some breakfast with my mom, packed, showered, and loaded my stuff up in the car. Then my mom and I drove to Des Moines - it was an entirely uneventful drive through mist and clouds, and I am reminded how nice it is that the timings there are always guessable (the 75mi to the airport are consistently an hour and a half no matter what, unlike the hellhole that is SF...but more on that in a moment). Then we said our goodbyes outside the airport, and I went through security and got a snack and boarded my flight.

Des Moines to Denver was uneventful, and I napped most of the way. In Denver, I grabbed a late lunch at Cantina Grill. The Denver to SFO flight was packed, and the guy next to me was a little too into manspreading, but I managed another nap and some writing, so I guess that's good.

But when I landed in SF, traffic looked atrocious - it was going to take over an hour to get home, and I was feeling too ill and too cranky to deal with sitting in some lyft for that long. So I went to a wine bar and sat there and nursed a pinot noir and wrote and ate charcuterie for three hours. That resulted in me writing ten pages, which was v. much needed to jumpstart my productivity again. And when I finally left the airport, it only took thirty minutes to get home, so that was a plus.

And now I'm going to watch some 'Project Runway' to decompress, and then I'm going to bed. Goodnight!

i'm your little butterfly

Today was my last full day in Iowa, and I spent it doing very Iowish things. First, though, I got up in time to shower and take a business-y call, and then my parents and I went to Seymour, where we had lunch with my Aunt Judy. She's actually my dad's aunt, and she lives in Missouri, but she drove up to have lunch with us. It was all quite entertaining, and the deer heads on the wall were silent witnesses to our conversation.

Then we came home (with a brief stop at a cemetery), and I spent the afternoon hanging out on the back porch with my parents. It was a gorgeous day, and I probably should have been writing, but parent time was a v. worthy endeavor. Eventually, we had supper (steak, hot dogs, potatoes, veggies) while watching 'Survivor' - and then, because 'Criminal Minds' was coming on and we all hate it, we switched over to PBS and watched a two-hour documentary which appears to be part of a mini-series called 'The Great Human Odyssey'. It was really interesting, and made me wish that I had been an archaeologist (but not really, because I think they spend 99.9% of their time brushing sand off stuff and being bored). But let me tell you, after watching how our ancestors survived and spread out over the whole world, 'Survivor: Gen-X vs Millennials' seems a whole hell of a lot less dramatic.

And then I did a bit of work, and now I need to sleep - I have to get up in ~7 hours, and since each of the last few nights have involved waking up in the middle of the night and coughing for an hour, it's probably in my best interests to sleep. Goodnight!

born in the usa

I'm still not feeling great, but I'm feeling maybe slightly better than yesterday, so signs are pointing toward my eventual recovery. I spent most of the afternoon talking to my mom, which was lovely - it was too windy for her to work in the garden, and I will be spending the next month writing frantically, so I might as well enjoy my time here, right?

But I did do a little work this afternoon, and I also took a nap, so that was all good. Then we ate supper - cheeseburgers and homemade french fries (fried in beef tallow) made for a delightful dinner. After that, I debated opening a bottle of wine (see: debate), and I was v. v. tempted - but I decided that wine probably wasn't the best chaser for all the sudafed I've been taking, so I made tea instead.

The debate was mildly frustrating, but I didn't need wine to get through it, so I guess that's good. Again, I shall refrain from political discourse, other than to say that I suspect that if the Republicans had picked almost anyone other than Trump (except for the Zodiac Killer), they likely would have won. There's still a lot of time to go before the election, and I want to spend as little of it online as possible - I've got a book to write, and life's too short to be this angry about things.

And now, I'm going to prepare myself for another night of attempting to sleep while coughing - goodnight!

i shake a little

Regrettably, I am still sick, which is starting to get old. After spending far too much time last night coughing and not sleeping, I spent the morning dealing with that - I ended up seeing a doctor online (via my health insurance's patient portal), who was friendly and efficient and sent a prescription for an albuterol inhaler to my local pharmacy, and gave me some tips for surviving my plane trip later this week.

So, I spent the rest of the morning messing around, and then my mom and I went into town to run errands. I picked up my prescription, and then we dropped groceries off at home before going to the round barn site so she could show me the curtains that they put up in the house on the property. It's all looking quite lovely, so much so that it made me wish that I lived in an old Victorian house (although I would prefer to live in a house without flies, which isn't possible in old houses in rural areas).

Then we came home, and I took a nap, and then we ate supper (pork loin, sweet potatoes, and baked apples - yum). I was going to theoretically write then, but the two hour season premiere of 'Scorpion' was on, and I like that show. So I watched tv, then watched the news, and then came downstairs and procrastinated and then wrote for half an hour (not enough, but at least I'm back in the story to some extent).

And now I need to sleep and hope that the inhaler keeps my airways open long enough for me to get some rest - goodnight!

forget regret or life is yours to miss

Still sick, so nothing to report. I barely slept last night because I was up until after 1:30 (staying up late talking to [censored] was good for familial relations, but possibly not good for either of our sleep schedules) and then had several hour-long coughing fits, which made sleep rather tricky. But I rolled out of bed by nine because staying in bed only made my lungs unhappy, and I spent the day attempting to be a participating member of the family even if I didn't feel like being a productive one.

As we were eating breakfast, Aunt Becky arrived - she'd come down to see Gram, and then she came out to visit us. It was great to see her, as usual, and we all had a nice visit, even if there are conversational landmines sitting around waiting to be stepped on. After she left, I went outside and attempted to get some work done, but my fatigue wasn't feeling it, so I was going to take a nap - but then my mom took a break from gardening, and so we sat on the porch and talked about the state of the nation instead. My dad showed up at some point, and we talked as well, and it was almost like my usual Sunday afternoon phone calls, except we did it in person and no one could be secretly watching tv or reading the internet while pretending to pay attention to the phone call (not that that ever happens, of course).

Then [censored] left to go back to [censored], and I tried and mostly failed to take a nap. My parents and I ate supper shortly thereafter (leftover awesomeness from last night + fried potatoes and green beans, which are always delish), and then I watched three hours of fine CBS programming - NCIS:LA, Madam Secretary, and Elementary. Those are three of my favorite CBS shows, so all in all, it wasn't a bad way to spend my miserable coughing evening.

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

every rose has its thorn

Still in Iowa, still sick. Today was pretty uneventful - I had breakfast, talked to the parents, messed around with my planner, showered, and then spent the afternoon hanging out with family. It was a grey, gloomy day in Iowa, but it was still warm enough to sit out on the back porch while talking to the parents (my mom was gardening and my dad was smoking a five-pound chunk of New York strip, which turned out to be super delicious). Also, Uncle Mark came down, so we spent some quality time with him.

Eventually, it was time for supper - which, as I mentioned, was delish. The smoked meat was perfect, and we had baked potatoes (which are always perfect), and my mom made baked apples for dessert (basically just like apple crisp, but without the crisp - all the taste, none of the gluten). Then, I watched "Scorpion", took a bit of a nap, watched the end of a "48 Hours: Mystery" (I hate that show), and then came downstairs. I was kind of planning to read and go to bed then, but instead I spent the last four hours talking to [censored] about a variety of [censored] topics.

Now, though, I really must sleep - goodnight!

i'm a little unsteady

I definitely have a cold, which I'm definitely super angry about. So I spent the morning lying in bed and bemoaning my fate (or, at least, sleeping), and then I dragged myself upstairs and ate breakfast in an attempt to feed my fever (you're supposed to starve a cold, but ain't nobody got time for that).

Eventually, I showered, dressed myself, and drove into town, where my California license wasn't suspicious enough to bar me from buying Sudafed (it helps that I know all the pharmacy workers). Then I came home, took some Sudafed, moped, drank some coffee, and spent some quality time talking to [censored], who came home from [censored] for the weekend. He declared that my stories are [censored] - but [censored] had nowhere better to be, so he was stuck with me. He also made one of the best transitions ever (in which I said something about someone making inroads, and [censored] said, "speaking of inroads, one of the women who owns the Inn hit an elk on a road". Lol (to the transition, not to the elk, obvi)).

sssanyway. I eventually took a nap, because my body couldn't handle such crazy excitement. Then we ate supper (bratwurst, baked beans, and the very last of the sweet corn - can't get much more midwestern than that). After supper, I really just wanted to crawl into bed - but of course I had to do some work, because I had volunteered to judge a contest, and I'd of course put it off, and the judging scores/comments were due at midnight PDT. I turned them all in with an hour to spare, but it probably took five hours of work - and I don't think my orange juice and my Sudafed were enough to make that okay.

So now I need to sleep and hope that I can recover quickly - goodnight!