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Friday
Stuff that makes me uncomfortable: – Being seen with luggage – Saying what I’m about to order at a restaurant – Interacting with shoe salesmen Stuff that does not make me uncomfortable: – Being pressed against other people on the subway – Eating things that are stale – Seeing really old people naked
Thor, With Angels
Been reading Thor, With Angels, a play by Christopher Fry about Vikings and so on. In the margins, some long-ago student has stubbornly written “Odin” every time Fry writes “Woden.” It’s endearing, this enduring obedience to the known name, but still better is when Fry writes “Death is what conquers the killer, not the killed,” … Continue reading
Squish’n’chill
After years of thinkering, Gene finally bought an ice cream maker. He’d always talked about getting one of the DIY hand-cranked versions, one step up from the can you roll around on the floor, but wound up going with a brand-new Cuisinart. It’s as if we’d been wandering around a lot full of Gremlins and … Continue reading
R.I.P. Salinger
Well, that’s the end of that dream. Also, the clouds are back.
Sun!
The sun is stretching through the window and lying alllll over my legs. In this fresh light I’m suddenly noticing how dirty the carpet has gotten while I’ve been hibernating and not doing anything. Wow, the windows are also filthy. For the first time I understand why spring cleaning happens in the spring, when all … Continue reading
the little rift
What flaw is there in my essential makeup which causes me, when purging my shelves, to get rid of Virginia Woolf’s classic novel Orlando but retain Betty Ren Wright’s underwhelming YA mystery The Dollhouse Murders? Am I basing my entire library on which books I read in third grade?
Winter Week
Wake up, make coffee, write. Wash. Eat. Close the blinds. Read. Turn on the lights. Open the blinds. Wash the dishes. Cook, eat. Read. Turn off the lights, sleep. Wake up, make coffee, write. Wash. Eat. Close the blinds. Read. Turn on the lights. Open the blinds. Wash the dishes. Cook, eat. Read. Turn off … Continue reading
Pillow talk
I’m having my groceries delivered today, octogenarian-style. A couple of days ago I realized there were more things on my list than could be carried home on my back, so I thought I’d try this service out because the first delivery is free. But now the guy is actually coming today and I’m a little … Continue reading
Near/Far
Been spending the week fighting with my novel’s heroine because I want her to do something foreign to her character, e.g. anything interesting at all, and she wants to stay at home and draw fish and never meet anyone. If I were really good at this I’d recognize that I myself am this woman, and … Continue reading
Buckle my shoe
I finished the first draft of my first novel last month, and am now hard at work on the first draft of a different novel. (Stephen King says to work on something else before revising in order to clear your head, and he would know.) It’s much easier this time, which is a relief. My … Continue reading