I'm here, things have just been nuts over the last few days. Stuff, in no particular order:
1. the daughter is still okay as far as the car accident is concerned. Still haven't heard from the estimator about the car. We are braced for bad news on that front, as we are for a big jump in our insurance premiums.
2. the daughter is still okay, but: I may have to throttle her because, (1) she's sixteen and she sometimes seems to be actually hoping to be throttled (for example: less than twelve hours after she drove her car into a guardrail, she asked with all seriousness to borrow my car), and (2) why disappoint her?
3. don't worry, I'm still in possession of my basic good instincts. just barely.
4. to all those kind people who have been encouraging me to watch Firefly: I would. I really want to, but our DVD rental place doesn't carry Firefly. The clerks don't seem to know why, and they also seem to be sincerely sorry. They are all Firefly fans themselves. So I have to figure out where I can rent Firefly, and then I will watch it. I promise.
5. In the meantime, I'm watching Lost on dvd. We are all watching Lost because close friends finally browbeat us into it, and now we can't stop. Because as much as I hate to admit it, it's good. Although I wish the writers hadn't gone in the ooooh-what's-that-big-scary-monster-in-the-forest direction. And, polar bears? There's enough good material without polar bears.
6. To Beth, who wants to hear details about the huge number of novels I'm reading lately due to insomnia: sorry. I don't feel easy giving a list of titles under the heading: Didn't Work. Because, you know, that doesn't do you or the author or me any good. I may review one or two of the stinky ones at length if I see any greater good possibilities. I can mention the novels that worked for me: I've just read all but the most recent of Preston and Childs' Inspector Pendergast series, which I like a lot. That's actually very surprising, because this is the first time I've liked any Sherlock-Holmes-esque type story. Pendergast has got my attention. I liked Cabinet of Curiosities best so far and Still Life with Crows least (in fact, I didn't like Still Life with Crows at all; more on that another time. And yes, I realize I just did what I said I wasn't going to do. It has been a rough few days; cut me a break).
Also, read two books by Susan Donovan, one I liked (Public Displays of Affection) and one I did not. Same goes for David Morrell. In his case, I really liked Creepers, and really did not like another one of his titles that was so very different in tone and approach I had trouble believing it was by the same guy.
What else? I should be out getting the garden cleaned up for the winter, but of course: I'm not. There's tons of business type stuff to take care of, but ditto: not. Sleeping through the night: not. What I am doing: writing pretty well. Making good progress on Queen of Swords and feeling the first pangs of guilt about not making quicker progress on Pajama Jones.
So that's me at the moment. More writerly stuff soon.