Tomorrow will be the third time in ten days that I’ve had to visit the pediatrician’s office. That’s right, the torch has been passed. My older son is now ill and the little one is better. And yet they seem to have very different symptoms. O.S. started with wheezing and has been coughing all week; now he has some sort of eye infection. L.O. had high fever and an upper respiratory infection-he’s still on antibiotics. So tomorrow we shall start anew…

No significant writing has been done recently–I did some on Friday, but then spent the weekend trying to finish The Princess Bride since it’s reserved at the library and due tomorrow. I finished the basic story, but have not yet read the ‘added features’: Buttercup’s Baby, Fezzik’s Death, etc. I liked it. I’m not too sure about all the author asides, particularly all the mentions of ‘this was before so and so occurred’–that was a trifle overdone. But there were so many good lines, so much fabulous narrative and lyrical description. I’m glad to have read it.

Up next…I have nothing available at the library right now (which is what usually keeps me on my toes), and I figure my tottering TBR stack can wait a bit, so I’m thinking to read a book of Regency etiquette published in that era: The Mirror of Graces by A Lady of Distinction. And I just ordered my copy of Goal, Motivation & Conflict by Deb Dixon, so when that comes in, I’ll want to get busy reading it…

I’m a little worried about starting my revisions because I want to make this the truly definitive set. I want to decide everything about the story now–any side plots, any quirks in character, all that so I don’t have to go back for major changes later. But I’m supposed to start Candace Haven’s next class: Revision Hell and How To Get Through It on Wednesday. I don’t know if I’m ready yet… But time is getting away from me…I’d wanted to finish this book by the end of the year!!!
Must work harder….

I’m very excited! I’m being interviewed for a Virtual Cocktail Hour next Friday (Nov 3) by the fabulous Tasha Alexander at her group blog The Good Girls Kill For Money Club. Readers of the blog send in the questions, which she then forwards to me for answers, and I’m supposed to provide a cocktail recipe and a few questions for readers…

So…if you have a thought-provoking, intelligent question to ask me, please send it on to Tasha. Send your quirky, embarrassing ones too.

In other news, the cocooned caterpillar, mentioned in a recent, previous post, has still not emerged, so we’re watching him closely. And I just happened to notice a note my son had written lying on the desk in his room. It’s to a girl in his class, asking if she’ll be his girlfriend (please), and it is very sweet. I probably shouldn’t have read it, but it was out there big as life, and I’m a sucker for a romance…

1. The plethora of health issues–I couldn’t get around this one if I wanted to…
2. The idea of holding a little stick with fire on the end of it and having carbon monoxide billow out of it in my mouth.
3. The smell, my God the smell…
4. The effect on clothes
5. The effect on teeth
6. The inconvenience–having to pop away for a cigarette, always have some on hand, etc.
7. The ostracism of being sent to a little corner of a restaurant or outside to smoke
8. Weather difficulties. I think I’d end up quitting pretty darn quick if I had to scurry outside in frigid weather, pouring rain, or Houston humidity just to smoke.
9. The cost, my God the cost…
10. The fact that they’re addictive–I had enough trouble shaking loose of Coke.
11. The second-hand smoke I’d be forcing on everyone else.
12. The potential danger of cigarette burns (on me, my clothes, my books!…)
13. Cigarette butts–I’m shocked that people toss them out their car windows, stomp them into the sidewalk, litter up parks, zoos, and public places. Find an ashtray, please!