Well, dear readers, I must say that over the past few days I’ve heard from many people I haven’t heard from in ages, just making sure I’m safe, which, thankfully, knock wood, I am. Some of these are completely out of the blue and sometimes even the green and brown. Meanwhile, keep those excellent vibes and xylophones coming, that they can finally contain these raging fires. We now return you to our regularly scheduled notes. Yesterday was Saturday, by the way (BTW, in Internet lingo). I mention it only because I was so confused about the days this past week. Therefore, it is safe to assume that today is Sunday. Yesterday, which was Saturday, was certainly a day. I only got four hours of sleep, got up, futzed and finessed and wrote a new page, went to the mail place, went to the good Gelson’s and got creamy tomato soup, a couple of small pieces of fried fish, and a tiny bit of lobster salad, all of which looked very good. I came right home, ate the soup, which was good, and then ate the rest of the food that looked very good but was, in fact, very bad. Really bad. Blecch bad. I ate one piece of the fish and tossed the other. I ate the tiny bit of lobster salad, and it was gross. It all made me extremely nauseous. Then I wrote a few new pages and got one of those gifts that occasionally comes out of nowhere, and writing those three pages was sheer heaven. In fact, it was the complete opposite of what I’d intended to write for that sequence. I love when that happens. I had several telephonic breaks for these out of the blue and completely unexpected calls. Then I wrote a few more pages, started a new chapter, took a brief break, wrote a couple more pages, then had to get something to get rid of the awful taste in my mouth. I got three tiny dessert things from a jernt called House of Pastry – the photographs looked really good – a crème brulee, a chocolate mousse, and a raspberry mousse. They arrived and I instantly had the crème brulee with whipped cream on the top and one berry, rather like the Smokehouse. Well, the supposed whipped cream was hard as a rock and the custard was thick and disgusting. So, I tried the chocolate mousse and that tasted like it was a week old. Then the raspberry mousse, which also tasted like a week old – and thinking on it, the crème brulee tasted like it was three weeks old. I felt even more nauseous after that. All of it went into the trash. I then left that jernt a scathing review on Yelp – there were MANY one-star reviews there, all mentioning how nothing tasted fresh. There were also five-star reviews, but those were for expensive cakes. At that point, I was so irritated, that I was determined to get something to eat that actually tasted good. So, I ordered bacon mac and cheese from Marmalade. It arrived and was certainly decent, but not nearly as good as it usually is. I guess it was just one of those things, just one of those blecchy flings. And now, I’m nauseous from the bacon mac and cheese.
I wrote a couple more pages – at that point, I’d done thirteen, so only two to go. So, another break and I sat on my couch like so much fish and started watching the third Harry Palmer movie, Billion Dollar Brain, which I hadn’t seen in ages. But I kept dozing off. It’s mostly interesting because it was directed by Ken Russell. Then I watched the first twenty minutes of the 1956 World Without End, starring stalwart Hugh Marlowe. I had no idea Rod Taylor had begun in films way back then. Like most, I thought he just appeared out of nowhere with The Time Machine and became a star because of it and then The Birds. But he was in a ton of well-known movies back then, including Giant, Raintree County, A Catered Affair and others. It’s a goofy film but only eighty minutes duration. I did doze off, so I may start it over again.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven at the latest, I’ll futz and finesse, I’ll write new pages, I’ll hope to eat something that’s actually tasty or pleasing, I’ll write more new pages, I’ll have some telephonic conversations, and then at some point on various breaks, I can watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I have to be up early and go to see the eye doctor. Since I haven’t had the open MRI yet, I’m not sure what the point is, but he wanted me to come in so I’m coming. The appointment is at 10:45 so I’ll probably leave her at 9:30. I already have the address in the GPS on my phone, so I’ll just take whatever the suggested routes are. I’ll come right home afterwards and get right back to writing. If all goes according to Hoyle, I should pass page 200 of the manuscript, and that will just leave between 60 and 70 pages left. Tuesday, I’ll send Muse Margaret the latest batch of pages. The rest of the week will be more writing and perhaps even finishing the book, we’ll also have another casting session, then callbacks.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven at the latest, futz and finesse, write new pages, eat, write more new pages, have telephonic conversations, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, always grateful when a writing gift lands in my fingertips.