Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 156

This is a Good Book Thursday, May 16, 2019

I read my way through all the Ngaio Marsh books–thirty-two of them–and loved the characters; she’s so good at establishing a small group and saying, “Somewhere in this half dozen people is a murderer,” and then playing out the personalities.  I have no idea how good the mysteries actually were because I was so caught up by those mini-communities.  It’s people that make a story, not plot, for me.  

(“Flames . . . on the side of my face . . .”)

What made a story for you this week?

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Working Wednesday, May 15, 2019

It’s almost June, and I need to do something creative, instead of cleaning out the kitchen shelves and the laundry.  Like maybe finish this book.  And the eighty-four crochet projects I have started.  Or a complete sentence.  

What have you been doing?

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Covered in Shame . . .

. . . if she doesn’t get the damn Happiness Post up on Sunday.

I forgot it was Mother’s Day, too, until Mollie called, and then completely forgot it was Sunday.  I apologize.  

But now I’m happy because here’s a happiness post, belated but by god it’s up.  What made you happy this week?

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Cherry Saturday, May 11, 2019

Today is Eat What You Want Day. 

Before anybody says anything practical, it’s one freaking day.  Screw health and good sense and eat what you want.  Lean close and snort up that aroma.  Close your eyes, let it linger on your tongue, and savor how good it tastes.  Hell, roll in it if you want to.   Life it too short not to celebrate with good things.

Eat what you want.  

(This holiday may be extended indefinitely.)

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This is a Good Book Thursday, May 9, 2019

This week I’ve been exploring Golden Age mysteries and discovered that Ngaio Marsh has been vastly underrated (by me) and Dorothy Sayers has been vastly overrated (also by me), although Murder Must Advertise is still a great book. The rest of them, you can have. Marsh, however, delights even when her mysteries suck because her characterization is so sharp. Which is a lesson to us all (us being writers). Also, Josephine Tey’s Brat Farrar is the best Golden Age mystery I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a lot of Golden Age mystery. After Tey, it’s Allingham, Marsh, and Gilbert, tied for second. I knew you’d want to know my opinion this.

So in your opinion, what’s a good book to read this week?

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Working Wednesday

I’m still working on cleaning up my kitchen and my novel. Both are progressing, but slowly. I also need to do something about my garbage; the bears keep mugging it. I can hear them outside my bedroom window on garbage nights, and while I am against their ripping up my bags, I’m also against me going out to yell at them in case they rip apart me. I don’t think they would, in general they’re mellow bears, but I don’t want to get between them and my expired spaghetti. (In case you’re wondering, bears go insane for past-sell-by sour cream but will not touch old mushrooms.) I’m thinking contractor bags and duct tape this week. Let’s see how they deal with that.

What are you working on this week?

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Rewrite Fatigue

I have been working on this book WAY too long. At this point, of course, I think it sucks and am wondering why I ever thought I could write in the first place, but that’s just normal. The problem is, I can’t just say, “The hell with it” and send it off because the cuts I made actually made the book worse, so I have to go through it one more time. That banging sound you hear in the background is my head hitting the keyboard over and over. ARGH.

But I did find my Mother’s Day present. I get myself something nice on Mother’s Day every year because Mollie tends to send flowers, which is lovely but I want someTHING. This is what I went for this year and it arrived yesterday and it’s fabulous:

The lids have magnets in them so you can stick them on the side of the fridge or on a wall if you get a metal plate. They’re gorgeous and practical and they make me happy.

I will return to writing better blog posts as soon as I’ve wrestled this damn book to the ground. Which will be soon or I’ll lose my mind and just stare at my spices all day.

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Happy Cinco de Mayo, 2019

I’ve been collecting Mexican folk art for years, especially alebrijes (wood animals) and Josefina Aguilar’s clay figurines (the one to the right is my favorite). There’s something about the wild abandon of folk art, the refusal to bow to any academy or rigid criteria, the sense that anything goes as long as it fills the artist’s soul with joy, that makes me happy.

It’s probably fitting to talk about that on Cinco de Mayo since the date celebrates an improbable victory over a sophisticated invading force (the French this time) that led to renewed confidence and joy in the defending army. Cinco de Mayo has been co-opted into an American drinking holiday that a lot of people think is Mexico’s Independence Day (that’s Sept. 16) so there’s the whole appropriation problem again, but if we think of it as a time to raise a glass to indomitable spirit and the great joy of freedom, a kind of folk-art-as-history holiday, I think we’re okay.

Also, in case I didn’t make myself clear, Mexican folk art makes me wildly happy. What made you happy this week?

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Cherry Saturday, May 4, 2019

Today is World Naked Gardening Day.

No?

Okay, it’s also Renewal Day, a day to, uh, well, here’s the description: “Renewal Day is all about reinvigorating yourself, refreshing your life and taking a look at things with a new zest and spark. It’s time to find things in your life that need a fresh look, a new perspective, and maybe even a brand new lick of paint!”

I’m thinking Renewal Day was started by the paint companies. But what I know is I need to renew this body before I participate in Naked Gardening Day.

The rest of you, party on.

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This is a Good Book Thursday, May 2, 2019

I’ve been doing a massive reread of Ngaio Marsh. I hadn’t read her for decades, so most of the time I don’t remember who the murderer is, which is fun, but the best part is her characterization. Inspector Alleyn leaves me fairly cold, somewhere between Miss Marple (my gold standard) and Peter Whimsey (I like him but only in small doses), but her casts of characters are stellar. There are usually five to eight of them in a small village or on a ship or in a big house, the contained community thing, and she has such sharp skills for writing vivid characters who combust when they’re together. I’m enjoying the hell out of Ngaio Marsh.

What are you reading?

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