Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 13

Working Wednesday, February 5, 2025

So I’m still working on HPP after all. I can’t seem to get it right and it’s making me insane. I asked Bob how long it was healthy to write every day, and he told me whatever feels right to me. I said, “That’s not a help.” He said, “Four hours.” I can do four hours. So I am doing one more pass at Rose’s part in HPP (Max’s stuff is great) and then I am letting it go. ARGH.

In other news, I’m working on settling my new dog in. Johnny has to be the most laid back dog I’ve ever owned. Eats like a champ, sleeps like a champ, walks on a leash like a pro, and I still haven’t heard him bark. The one thing we’ve tried that he is absolutely against is riding in the car, so we’ll be working on that this week, short rides that always involve a treat. This is work I enjoy.

What did you work on this week

Dog (Mon)Days

So Johnny appears to be settled in. This picture is actually from the first night. (No, Bob, he’s not dead, he’s asleep.) He’s sacked out on his back on a plush blanket, snuggled up to two pillows. And me. See the edge of the laptop in the lower left hand corner? That’s me, working. I think we’ve got this.

Happiness is a Dog

This is Johnny. We just met yesterday, the day after his fifth birthday, but we’re already getting along great.

Big thanks to Crossing Paths Animal Rescue in Alabama who took Johnny in and then brought him up north to me when he was ready to be adopted (thank you, Ashlee!). Also big thanks to Pat Gaffney (aka Aunt Pat) who not only drove me to the mall to get him so I could hold him on the way home, but also informed me that if anything ever happened to me, she was taking him. So Johnny is covered for the future, too. Everybody, including Johnny who is snoozing beside me on the bed at the moment, legs in the air, is happy.

What made you happy this week?

This is a Good Book Thursday, January 30, 2025

I’ve begun a couple of interesting books this week, but I can’t finish them yet so I can’t talk about them because I have to finish the book I’m working on because Bob needs it back.

So what did you finish reading this week (or whenever)?

Working Wednesday, January 29, 2025

I’m still working on The Honey Pot Plot. I think Bob’s going to rip it out of my hands to save me. So I have to work faster.

How’s work going for you?

Happiness is Workle-Durkle

The Washington Post just ran an essay on the Scottish word “hurkle durkle”, which basically means staying in bed all morning. I applaud this idea, although I usually sleep through my mornings and then stay in bed to work. I do get out of bed and stretch out on top of the covers, I’m not a complete sloth, but basically, my bed is my desk. I like it that way. I used to feel guilty about it, but now I’ve decided I’m just using a Scottish approach to my writing: workle durkle. So now I don’t feel guilty, I just feel Scottish. That makes me happy.

Hod did you get to happy this week?

This is a Good Book Thursday, January 23, 2025

This week I read some Heyer just to clear my brain after trying to figure out what the hell we were doing as we revised The Honey Pot Plot. One problem: the plot we started with is not the plot we finished with so now the title makes no sense. Writing: It’s always something. Reading: It’s almost always something good.

What did you read this week?

Working Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Today, Bob and I are going to finish HPP. Which means we’re both going to read through a completed draft and then tell each other where we screwed up. I don’t even care; what I’m focusing on is “finished draft.”

What are you focusing on today?

Happiness is a Great Blanket

I’ve been curled up at home, working on the last of The Honey Pot Plot under a blanket I impulsed a while ago. Generally speaking, I buy cheap blankets and layer them because I have a cat and I spill a lot, so I’m hell on bedclothes, but I saw this blanket on Anthropologie, and they were having a get 50% off the sale price on it, and it was the middle of the night when my buying resistance is low, so I went for it. I love this freaking blanket. It’s fake fur, just fake fur, nothing special except it’s so scrunchy and soft and thick. And acrylic, I think, which is actually good because as I said, I’m hell on blankets. It’s cold here (I know, it’s cold everywhere), and this blanket makes me happy every time I look at, let alone every time I crawl under it.

Money can’t buy happiness until it does.

What made you happy this week?

Freaking Out Friday, January 17, 2025

I thought I had Working Wednesday and GBT set to post and I didn’t because I have managed to start the year screwing up EVERYTHING (ask Bob), so today, it’s Freaking Out Friday because I am really sorry about being so late here and on Facebook, and really screwing up the end of HPP, and really really wanting to put my head under the covers and pretend I am a dachshund.

What work did you do this week? Or did you just freak out?