Words written: no writing, but CSF proofing—done!

Yesterday I curled up in the living room with the proof pages and got through many chapters; I’m more than halfway through, at least. The story still holds up, and there were a couple of places that made me laugh out loud. There are still a few clunky sentences here and there, but for something we wrote in that short of a timeframe, and without seeing copy edited pages, it’s pretty damn good.

And life, I mused, is pretty damn good. I don’t get the chance to sit in the living room much, and every so often I’d let myself just enjoy the room. Oh, part of my brain still has the running commentary of “it’ll look so much better when we strip the paint” and “I need to rearrange those books there and find a few more knickknacks” and whatnot, but the main part of my brain just smiled contentedly, enjoying my grandmother’s china displayed in the china cabinet, the old books on the mantle, the hardwood floors. I was bookended by purring cats on the sofa, I had good tea and ginger lemon crème cookies, I was anticipating Ken coming home, and I was reading proofs of my first novel. And I could pause and appreciate all of that.

Ken got home a little later than planned (just after 6 p.m.), and reasonably soon thereafter (well, we had to have an added excuse for being late, didn’t we? And we hadn’t seen each other in a week…) we were in the car heading to Manhattan Beach to meet up with Sheri and Karin for the Day After Daze show.

After watching the passion with which Todd drums—after realizing that during his 15-minute solo in “Black Magic Woman,” he probably had no sense that he had an audience—I spent some time musing on drumming and music and creativity and passion, and making choices to follow one’s dream. However, no time to write about it now. Maybe later. Interesting stuff, though.

Today we went with Morgana to tour the Dudley House, a late 1890s house that’s decorated with proper period furnishings, etc. Afterwards, we had lunch downtown in a charming outdoor café and then browsed a few shops before heading home.

I spent the rest of the afternoon reading proofs. Teresa and I went over them this evening; I still had a couple of chapters to go, but we’ll finish up tomorrow and get them sent off early and make our editor love us even more. Overall they look pretty good, although some of the quirks of British grammar and punctuation make our teeth ache. It’s a good book. It’s hot, the plot hangs together in an interesting way, and it makes me laugh out loud in places. Can’t ask for more than that.

Back to the much-languishing Designed for Love tomorrow. And right now, to bed.

<>-<>-<>

"I shall live badly if I do not write,
and I shall write badly if I do not live."

~~ Francoise Sagan

---

Currently Reading: Northern Lights, Nora Roberts; the most recent Realms of Fantasy
Lately Listened To: I don’t know, but “Godzilla” is going through my head and I can’t seem to shake it…
Recently Watched: Supernatural