[The latest post at zirconium:]

It has been a week of dropped eggs, burnt beans, buggered-up code, scorched towels, hurt feelings, feet in mouth, and other damage, but there has also been plenty in the way of good tidings.

The book:

It's back on a couple of Top 100 lists in the US and the UK. \o/

Heather Kamins reviews it.

Renee Emerson liked the sharpshooter poems in particular.

The copyediting:

Sarah Suiter's Magdalene House: A Place about Mercy is now available.

I have resumed reading The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage (1999 ed.). I love this line from the foreword:

As the previous edition of this book noted, there is little difference between a Martini and a martini, but a rule can shield against untidiness in detail that might make readers doubt large facts.

And this:

The 1923 booklet cautioned printers that in following copy, they must make allowance "for the intelligence (or lack of intelligence)" of the advertiser. It listed pasha, pigmy and seraglio among "Words Frequently Misspelled" (raising a question: What were they doing in the Times at all, not to mention frequently?).

More on poetry:

Joanne posted a haiga by me (warning: photograph of human ashes). (On a related note: Jen Hoffman's Your daughter's grief: An open letter to moms.)

Signal boost: is looking for hosts.

Reb Livingston holds forth on being boring (and consequently "sort of happier").

Also: showed a high school pal and his wife around a bit of Nashville, dived into a croque-madame at my monthly meetup at Sky Blue with a neighbor, and talked marketing with my publisher over tempura and a "Pacific Queen" roll (mango, tuna, macadamia, cukes, and avocado).



As I told James Monday night, I never had a prayer of being hip -- I despise waiting in lines too much even to try -- but I do love this city so.

Also: Go White Sox! :-D