Random Tuesday

I just deleted over 600 unread e-mails. Part of this is because I was the victim of an e-mail cluster bomb, and part because I just got behind and gave up. They’re all gone now, but if you e-mailed me in that 600+ cluster, I did not read your e-mail. Please resend.

In other news . . .

Alisa Kwitney and I are trying a kind of buddy writing system starting in December, and to begin I just tried to synopsize Nita into one doc. I started with the blurb, then did short bios of the four main characters–Nita, Nick, Button, and Max–followed up with a one paragraph plot synopsis divided into acts, and then broke down the supporting/minor characters and the major and minor settings. I need to go over it again, but that’s pretty much a story, right? Characters, plot, setting? There are a lot of characters in that sucker. And not much focus. IT’S THE ROMANCE, STUPID.

I’m re-reading Making Money now, having just finished Going Postal. The thing about Going Postal is that it’s pretty much a perfect book, if you ignore those two prologues at the beginning, so the sequel was always going to be a heavy lift. Also finance is not as much fun as the internet vs. the post office. Plus Reacher Gilt was a great smart antagonist and Cosmo Lavish is just nuts. Still it’s Moist Von Lipwig and Adora Bell Dearheart, so it’s a good book.

I’m putting together storage units like crazy. Bamboo for the bathroom, wood for the office, metal for the desk for the bedroom. I am determined to be efficient. And either get this extraneous crap out of here or at least get it put away. I am the Mistress of the Allen wrench and my Phillips screw driver is practically glowing at this point.

I’m trying to decide if I want to buy a new printer. At this point, printers are like gerbils, not really worth fixing, and the one I have probably still works if I futz with it, but there’s a good deal on an Epson I want. So far, I am not buying, but it’s a non-cartridge ink printer and that’s ecologically better. Also cheaper. It’s a dilemma.

Next Day: I woke up to eighteen e-mails at 11AM, after deleting the last of late incoming at 4AM. I spammed some, unsubscribed from some, answered some, paid a bill, e-mailed Krissie about something on BookBub and still have the NYT The Morning, Washington Post Voraciously (food), and Atlas Obscura, all of which can be deleted if necessary. Now all I have to deal with is Bob who took the deletions of his possible e-mails badly, so he’s spamming me. I answer every e-mail he sends, even the ones about eating my own arm, and now he’s complaining that they’re all snark. Has he met me? Look, I’m cranky about e-mail right now, okay? And I just got a Breaking News from the NYT. Fortunately those are read and delete. I’m down to one now–Voraaciously was stir fry and I skimmed AO–as long as Bob is doing something else.

Big plans for today. Finish the Nita doc. Clear up the mess in front of my front door and start to get the Christmas stuff up (no lights until after Thanksgiving, I have some class). Clean the microwave after my popcorn disaster. Fix the damn a on this laptop because it’s still sticking. Get my tax info together. Make a hat and scarf for Krissie. Throw out half my bedroom. Delete e-mails as they come in.

Oh, and I got a box of yarn yesterday that is already put away because efficiency is now my new byword, but now I have to make something with it. I’m thinking either a Frida blanket or Diego squares.

The days are just packed.

Have a bright and beautiful day, Argh People.

ETA: Oh, and this is Faking It in Hebrew. I love it.