It was uncomfortably muggy yesterday, so I loved it that the temperature plunged during the night. The windows were open, and it would have been a perfect morning to snuggle under quilts with my dogs and sleep in. I wouldn’t be QUITE as bitter about all the equipment that cranked up on my street BEFORE SEVEN A.M. if I didn’t know the end result, after months of noise and dust and a tacky blue portable toilet, would be another CRAPPY THREE-UNIT town house in the neighborhood.
Once awake, I embarked on a fly-killing mission. Today’s last body count: 32 34 38. Nice.
Then I took these to the post office to donate them for NO/AIDS’s use in the Easter parade.
Did you know that I can’t Express Mail from Houston to New Orleans? No, I didn’t either. Hope the beads get there in time. Can’t believe the postal service has not recovered adequately from Hurricane Katrina to be able to guarantee mail delivery by a certain day. I wonder if other shipment services can? It’s not like beads are important, but I think of things like medications that often have to be overnighted. Is this not possible?
I asked a question the other day of authors–whether they went back and reread their old work. I asked because I’d decided to read IT HAD TO BE YOU for the first time since 2001. There were a couple of times I TRIED to read it, but I would start seeing so many things I wanted to change that it disturbed me, so I never reread it in its entirety. This time around, I’ve stuck with it. Things I may have wanted to change at one time don’t bother me so much now. Like the way Daniel is initially mired down in his history. That makes sense, considering his circumstances as the novel opens and who he is (big ol’ Virgo). What I’m struck by is how my feelings about Blaine are different. I see him as much more vulnerable now when I’m reading him. I think that’s because I learned so much more about him in I’M YOUR MAN. Now a whole new set of things is affecting me in relation to WHEN YOU DON’T SEE ME. I don’t know. I’m glad I’m rereading it, but there’s something bittersweet about it.
Note to Shannon: I got the photos. More later.
Note to Lindsey and Rhonda: Y’all are sweet. Sorry about the dentist.
Note to Tim and Rex: The CAR! is home.
I rarely, if ever, go back and reread my old work unless I absolutely have to–like when I am checking from something like Scotty’s mother’s name and I can’t remember it. I HATE rereading my old stuff, because every time I do I think to myself, “Self, how the hell did you ever get this published? It’s horrible!”
Are the nettles working?
Tim says they are working for him. Tom thinks his allergies are under much better control than before (and heaven knows, it’s not because of any lack of crap in the air). And I have only had to take two little yellow pills to get through the days since we started the nettles. So yep, I’d say they are working. THANK YOU for the good advice.
And yeah, it’s terribly hard to read old stuff because I can’t stop editing. But I find that I still get crushes on the characters. That part I like, and there’s no arrogance in saying it because, of course, there are other creators in my case.