Averil Dean's Blog, page 28

Skyrocket

So, the job. I think I’m going to like it, though the 8-ball is still uncertain. Definitely the gig has its perks. The offices are clean and efficient, and while there may be a personality or two in the mix, most of the people I’ve met seem pretty easy to get along with. Also, there’s a lot to be said for a warm workplace–sure as hell beats an outdoor job at this time of year.

I’ve spent the morning in a slow burn on the topic of minimum wage, after following an online debate which started wit...

Mangler

Fuckity fuck. The wall.

I don’t know what to do with this book, how to make it better. I see what the problems are but don’t have a single fresh idea for how to solve them. The characters are grumbling and stubborn and won’t make the shifts I’m asking for. In fact they won’t budge at all. In desperation I printed out some scenes and ran them through the mangler, stuck a bunch of post-it notes around my desk, hung a fresh index card from my lamp with the words Character = Story written across i...

Black Thursday

Wednesday evening and I am still employed. At work I’m being flooded with the first days’ info-dump, in which I stand like a rock in a fast-moving stream, getting in everybody’s way. The sweet young thing who’s training me is pretty wonderful and clearly adored by one and all, so I’m keeping a beady eye on her to see how it’s done.

I imagine my American peeps are drinking hard in preparation for the Thanksgiving extravaganza. We’ve already had our big dinner and I’m not into competitive consum...

Bacon

Yesterday we had a big dinner. I won’t say Thanksgiving since we missed both the day and every traditional dish that’s meant to go along with it, but I did spend the afternoon in the kitchen as per usual. My older son is vegan now and I’m a lapsed vegetarian trying to get back on track, so I made things like spicy stuffed dates and walnut-mushroom paté (which are delicious but bear an unfortunate resemblance to stuffed cockroach carcasses and poo in a pot, respectively—a fact which thrilled t...

Velma 2.0

The verdict is in. My background has passed muster and I start my new job on Monday. After picking through my dismal wardrobe, I decided a trip or three to the secondhand stores was in order. My first go-round netted me a black corduroy skirt and two sweaters, but damned if it didn’t also require glancing into a full-length mirror. Awful at my age, let me tell you. I am seriously rocking a Velma hairdo, and in the corduroy skirt, tortoiseshell glasses and turtleneck, the resemblance is startl...

Sharpie

This week I hope to start a new job. (I say I hope because the offer is pending a background check, and though I consider myself blameless in the grand scheme of things, who the fuck knows? Melissa McCarthy may be across the country racking up my credit cards while I’m over here feeling cocky about my chances.) It’s a receptionist gig at a medical facility, so basically I will smile a lot and keep my eyebrows plucked and try to remember who’s on line three. I’m looking forward to the work, ac...

Velma and Daphne

It’s 7am. We’re headed down to Portland for the day, after which I’ll be putting my mom and daughter on a southbound plane and settling back into the quiet. I haven’t done much about the job hunt over the past week, though I did have a second interview yesterday which seemed to go pretty well. It’s a wildly competitive job market out there, so I bought a new outfit for the occasion and wore my glasses the whole time in an effort to appear more Velma than Daphne to the powers that be. We’ll se...

Vapor

I’m out for a walk this morning with my little dog. The air is cold and sharp in my throat, a bank of fog over the lake like plumes of smoke from an underwater gathering of mermen. A clutch of black-and-white ducks flies past, so close to the water that their wings leave a vapor trail along the surface. I can hear their feathers the air, a brushing wing-beat, that quiet, powerful sound with all their muscle and bone and instinct contained within it. Push push push, their necks arrowed forward...

Peeps

Last night I drove down to Portland alone and came home with two of my most beloved peeps: my mom and my daughter, who are here for a week. We’re on our way out to downtown Olympia (hello, Orca Books!) but I wanted to pause and mention that ALICE is up on Harlequin’s Facebook page, and I have a new author page at Facebook as well. It’s completely barren and friendless at this point but hey, you have to start somewhere.

Wanna be friends? Photo by Ellen Von Unwerth

Canners

Yesterday I heard back from speedy Mr. Kleinman, who’s read the new manuscript and gave it a round of enthusiastic praise. He totally dug the backward-moving timeline—which was a scary, ambitious risk for all of us—and said the narrative pace ticked along at just the right clip. There are a few confusing details to clear up, and some more substantial areas where I need to add material, but other than that the book’s in pretty good shape.

On the other hand, the job hunt is starting to freak me...