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January 15, 2022:

DEAR MERCURY: TAKE YOUR RETROGRADE AND STICK IT UP URANUS

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, after a way too long day and evening. I have been told that once again Mercury is in retrograde, after it just got OUT of the damn retrograde. Well, I think it’s high time that we get mad as HELL and don’t take it anymore. Who came up with this Mercury in retrograde malarkey anyway? Why does Mercury get to make these decisions? So, I’m putting my foot down and saying to HELL with you Mercury, you can just buzz the HELL off. You can go take your little retrograde bull pucky and stick it up Uranus. I has spoken and hereby decree that Mercury is NOT in retrograde. The whole damn world has been in retrograde for almost two full years now. As Barbra and Donna so succinctly put it: Enough is enough. Otherwise, I’ve just finished sixteen new pages of writing and probably could have done more if I hadn’t gone in the wrong direction and had to completely revise a sequence. But I must move these here notes along because she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon and I must get to bed directly after posting these here notes. I’ve just put on the first music of the day, a Villa-Lobos string quartet.

Yesterday began in a most annoying way and stayed that way for some time. I’d told Grant to tell the handyman not to come before nine, but I’m sure he didn’t because the handyman arrived at eight. So, it was another night of five hours sleep and I felt like I’d been pummeled from here to eternity and hell and back. I got dressed and went to the computer, whilst they put plastic everywhere, covering everything and kind of blocking me in. I knew they’d be sanding and I really didn’t want that crap in my lungs, so before they began I left and went to Art’s Deli and had a bacon and cheese omelet and thankfully it did not make me want to vomit on the ground. I was able to kill ninety minutes there, and then got back home at noon. The sanding was done and he was painting.

I futzed and finessed while that was going on, trying my darndest to not be distracted. There was quite a lot of futzing and finessing to do. I knew I couldn’t start writing new pages until they were done and out of here, but the guy took a quick thirty-minute lunch break, so I did two new pages during that thirty minutes. I think they were finally completely out of here by two-thirty. Then I ordered some food, just to have stuff for later. A thing of chicken pasta salad, a thing of fresh fruit, and a side Caesar salad from California Chicken Café. And I began writing in earnest, feeling I’d never get the number of pages done that I was hoping to do. I got to a sequence and knew I had two approaches to it I could take and that those approaches would impact the rest of the book. I chose one, wrote it and it was very slow going, with lots of finessing as I went along, which is something I normally don’t do. When I finished that, I’d written a total of seven pages. I had a little of the chicken pasta salad but either I wasn’t in the mood for it, or it wasn’t as good as usual. I only had a few bites, and most of that was the pasta and not the chicken. There was just something off about it. I had the side Caesar and that wasn’t so good, and I don’t think it was their usual dressing. Later, I had some of the fruit – only the pineapple was good. The honeydew was hard as a rock, with no flavor. And right now, I think something in that grouping is making my tummy feel not so good. So, that’s now three meals in a row that weren’t what they should have been. But the omelet was good, so I’m ever hopeful.

Then I took a little one-hour break because I was beginning to think my choice of the two approaches was the wrong one. I watched an hour of a bad TV movie called Manhunt: Search for the Night Stalker, about the manhunt and sear for the Night Stalker, a notorious piece of merde killer. I remember those days very well. The TV movie had horrible writing, inept direction and a poor lead performance by Richard Jordan as a detective hot on the trail of the Night Stalker but not really. This was made in the late 1980s, and if there was a decade with worse hair and fashion, I don’t know what it is and that especially goes for the women, although the mullets on the men are pretty rank.

Then I read what I’d written and knew for certain I’d taken the wrong road and wasn’t THAT peachy? So, I had to revise that entire section completely, and that took two hours at the end of which I’d still only written seven pages. But because the approach was now correct, it was suddenly easier to write the chapter that followed, which I did pretty quickly. I took a shower break, then finished the sequence but not the chapter I was on and that ended up being the sixteen pages, one more than I’d planned on. The other thing about yesterday is that it felt like a Saturday. I don’t know why, really – maybe because I had to go have an early breakfast. And speaking of an early breakfast.

Today, I’ll be up by eight-thirty and out of here by nine. There will be no time for futzing and finessing before I go. I’ll come back at noon and get right to work, first futzing and finessing, and then writing new pages. I think there are probably thirty to thirty-five pages to go, so I’m not sure I can finish all of that in one day, but if I get on a roll, who knows. It’s not like I haven’t done that before. So, that will be the day and evening, with only a few breaks in between.

Tomorrow, I can sleep in, thankfully, and once up I’ll futz and finesse today’s writing, make a PDF and send it to Muse Margaret. Then I can relax, watch stuff, and hopefully get a call from Muse Margaret and hope she likes the rest of the book. I also think I’m changing the title – I’ve only done that twice in all my books, but I came up with what I think is a better alternative and the Muse liked it and so did Doug Haverty, who’ll be doing the cover.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eight-thirty and out of here by nine, I must have a light breakfast, I must do a few things, then I’ll return home, futz and finesse, write new pages, take an occasional break, and continue to write new pages and either finish the book or get close. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your feelings about Mercury in retrograde and will you take part in an organized or disorganized strike against Mercury? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, not so happy with Mercury and Mercury will RUE the day it did this so soon after the last time – it will RUE the day, I tell you because we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore.

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