bryant | Network

Do Admit! The Mitford Sisters and Me by Mimi Pond (Drawn & Quarterly, 2025)

I've been curious about the Mitfords since my eye was caught by a title on a bookstore display table one day nearly 50 years ago: Poison Penmanship. It was a collection of Jessica's muckraking magazine articles. I bought it. She became a favorite author of mine, and it was from reading her memoirs that I learned that she was called Decca and had five equally colorful but sometimes more alarming sisters.

There have been a number of biographies, individual and joint, but I haven't found the ones I've read particularly compelling. This one, though, was fascinating as well as zippy. I'm not sure what kind of book this is. It looks like a graphic novel, except it's non-fiction. The art is sometimes a little sketchy - I'm not sure I recognize the sisters, much of the time - and it can get very confusing what order to read a page's various captions in.

But it's very well told, going through the entire lives, jumping from one sister to another and concentrating on what they did together, with digressions in the form of visits to the author's own bleak suburban childhood for contrast or comparison, and sidebar-like introduction to other characters or events (treating their only brother that way). It tends to skip over Pam, the least colorful sister, in her earlier years, and it gets overall sketchy near the end, telling what happened without the rich array of anecdotes that enliven the earlier years.

But it tells lots of good stories, only some of which (mostly those involving Decca) I already knew, and brings them to added life with the illustrations. And the jumping-around storytelling style is impressively coherent.

There aren't many factual errors; I only counted a couple. The only one of any significance was the statement that Decca and her husband Esmond met Washington Post publisher Eugene Meyer through one of the letters of introduction they carried when they came to the US. They did carry a batch of such letters, but they got to know Meyer through his daughter Kay, whom they'd met at a party and hit it off with immediately. She is mentioned later, where it's noted that she's Katharine Graham, later the famous publisher of the Post herself, but not that she and Decca remained lifelong friends.

Pond is emphatically sympathetic to Decca's time in the Communist Party - they were giving a hoot about social justice when hardly anyone else was - and she tries to be understanding about the eccentricities of the Mitford parents, but her treatment of sisters Diana who became a fascist and Unity who became an outright Nazi and a Hitler groupie is pretty deadpan. This is what they did; comment would be superfluous. And I learned a lot I hadn't known about the personal lives of the remaining sisters, Nancy and Debo.

Very informative, very entertaining, and despite its length a very fast read. Probably the best book-length introduction to the batch of them.

rolanni

What went before: OK, so this is no fun. Apparently, I'm having a reaction to the COVID booster -- the very first such reaction.

I am therefore taking the rest of the day off to curl up in a ball of misery under 45 blankets and three coon cats until my head stops hurting.

The good news is that the New Order allowed me to write 1,120ish new words, and the things I'm not getting done are business stuff that will just have to wait.

Hope everybody's having a good Saturday.

Sunday. The adventure continues.

As it turns out, I am ... weller. The headache, which was the worst, is no longer with me. Fever's gone. I am chilly, but that just might be because it's chilly today and I haven't turned on the oil heat, so we're running with what the heat pumps and the sun through the window can provide.

OTOH, now I have muscle aches, and was briefly sick enough to my stomach that breakfast was a big cup of ginger and lemon tea with honey. I just went rooting around in the pantry, and it's looking like that will be Progresso Chicken 'n Rice Soup for lunch.

I have written +/- 1,000 words, and cleaned the cat boxes. A walk is not on today's schedule. I do intend to write some more this afternoon, but there are two outstanding pieces of business mail that I have to get outta here, so that will be happening while I'm in the front of the house heating up my can of soup, and taking a break.

How I got 13 hours of sleep: I took a four hour nap, ably assisted by Nurse Rookie Cookie, who gamely declared he was up for four more, if needed. It being 6 pm by the time I arose, half-blind with the stupid headache, I served up Happy Hour a bit early, had a bowl of rice and two Tylenol -- and went back to bed, whereupon I slept for nine hours. I did wake up once or twice, and noted the presence of Tali and Firefly.

So, apparently the tropes are not a gag, and author trading cards are serious business -- this given the absence of an answer to my latest (no harm, no foul; at this point I'D be giving up on myself. Honestly, who is this out-of-touch old writer, anyway?).

The whole trope idea still makes me queasy and murderous, perhaps not quite in that order, but I believe I have engineered a Work Around. (And this is where we once again and reallyREALLY miss Steve, King of the, "Here, let me not do that for you, 'k? This works for me; you go ahead and do what you do." Insert charming smile.)

Into the trope column on the present form will go: honor, wit, true love, space opera. Those're my tropes and I'm sticking with them.

And, honestly, that's about as far as I can bend without breaking something, probably my last stick of patience, and it's more or less what it says on the label: "The Liaden Universe: Where honor, wit, and true love are potent weapons against deceit and trickery."

I will note that this morning's writing session in Steve's office was adorned by Firefly and Rook, with a brief visit from Tali, who doesn't quiet Get It, yet. I am now in my office, attended by Rook and Tali, Firefly at last look was still snugged down in Sprite's former aerie overlooking Steve's desk.

And that's the mixed bag o'news from the Cat Farm.

How's Sunday treating everybody?

james_davis_nicoll

Frostflower can solve Thorn's pregnancy problem... but can the pair survive the attention of a fanatical farmer-priest?

Frostflower and Thorn (Frostflower and Thorn, volume 1) by Phyllis Ann Karr

minoanmiss

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Current Mood: annoyed

james_davis_nicoll

Really, more of Book Received. One work new to me, science fantasy.

Books Received, September 13 — September 19

Poll #33640 Books Received, September 13 — September 19

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 35

View Respondents

Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

Yalum by Matthew Hughes (September 2025)
9 (25.7%)

Some other option (see comments)
1 (2.9%)

Cats!
33 (94.3%)

calimac

I wanted to review something for the Daily Journal for September, especially because I skipped out on August. Not that there's much going on classically in either month, and the one thing going on in the DJ's coverage area that I could get to was the Palo Alto Philharmonic's Baroque concert, so that's what I wrote about.

I don't often cover early music (defined as pre-1750), because there's not a lot of interpretive "give" in it and there may be difficulty finding anything much to say. This concert left me with two positive impressions, one performer-oriented and the other in repertoire. First, that the bassoonist (Gail Selburn) playing Vivaldi's RV 497 bassoon concerto (I have to specify the catalog number because there are 39 Vivaldi bassoon concertos) was spectacularly good - I wish I could say the same for the violinist who played most of the concert's other solos; second, I enjoyed the almost Nymanesque slow march in a quartet by Johann Friedrich Fasch. I located a YouTube performance of this piece out of the thicket of crabbed catalog numbers for minor composers, and here it is cued up to that movement. Continuo here is on bassoon and harpsichord. These guys are nowhere near as good as the performers I heard, but this may give an idea.

rolanni

I'm really glad I moved the writing part of my life back to Steve's office. The business aspect of my life is a Terrible Snarl, which is going to take several hours, if not days to unsnarl. But! I will be able to Go To Work untroubled by the gnarly looking piles, and that's a Good Thing.

I am also thinking that I will be wanting to move my writing time from afternoon/evening to morning. Get up, get breakfast, hit the story. This has never worked for me before, but, since I am now apparently a Day Person, we shall Make Adjustments.

Me doing creative work in the morning means that y'all will be getting the Confusion Factory Daily Update later in the day. I hope that doesn't inconvenience anyone.

On the Trope Front, I have decided to treat the whole business as a game, because if I don't I will descend into a Slough of Despond, because 35+ years of writing my head and heart out is going to be reduced to "meet cute." I really am trying to meet the organizers of this thing halfway, but I fear I'm being just as hard on them as I feel they're being on me.

Later, we can talk about how Tropes do a disservice to writer and to reader, if we want to. I expect I'm on the wrong side of the line, as I am with trigger warnings. I am a flawed being. As are we all.

Aside all of that... I do believe that I'll pour myself an early glass of wine and go sit out on the deck.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe.

I'll check in tomorrow afternoon.

calimac

I did it. Rising from my bed of recuperation, I ventured up to the City for my first SFS concert of The Season Without A Music Director. This required two forms of public transit as well as a lot of driving, and my first eating out since early August. The meal was a little iffy - even ordering a smaller than previously customary dinner, I still overestimated how much I'd be able to eat - but everything else went OK.

And I got to hear a stunningly effective concert under guest conductor James Gaffigan. At least so far in its travails, SFS hasn't lost any of its MTT-given snazz. That was on vivid display in this program, four pieces of sophisticated 20C urban Americana.

The excitement kicked off with a gratifyingly tight and exciting performance of Gershwin's Concerto in F. Soloist Hélène Grimaud, dressed in sparkles, dazzled visually as well as audibly. I've called her the Argerich of her generation, and she demonstrated that pizazz. The outer movements were big and brash, which is surely how the composer wanted it. Gaffigan was clearly fully into it on the podium. But even more pleasing was the Adagio, which simply burst with sardonic New York color. The players knew just how jazzy they needed to be. At the end of the work, Gaffigan's first acknowledgment was to rush to the back of the stage to shake hands with the principal trumpet.

Gershwin's An American in Paris, which I've never much liked, was almost as satisfying, shining equally brightly with the same colorful sass, and again Gaffigan shook hands with the trumpeter. Duke Ellington's Harlem has a different style but worked to the same effect with even more jazz stylings, as much as was called for.

I only wish these had preceded instead of followed the one new and unfamiliar (to me) piece on the program, Carlos Simon's The Block, so I could have triangulated and better appreciated the style. As it was, the piece sounded like the answer to the question, What if the composer John Adams had been an urban ethnic?

The one odd clang to the concert came on noting from the program book previous-performances listing that SFS has already played each of these works within the last four years. Considering that, as others have noted, each of the works on the opening showcase concert last week had been played within the previous one year, the programming of last night's concert looks less bold and thematic and more timid and conservative. I think we're in for a lot of that this year.

rolanni

Friday. It's an awfully nice day. Sunny and breezy. Warmer up inland where the Confusion Factory is located, than down Bath, where it was Right Cool at that nice little park of theirs. If I could snap my fingers and move this house as it is to Bath, I'd do that.

Yeah.

So, I saw my PCP, who's looking well. I have my COVID shot, so that's taken care of. I will also be traveling up and down Central and Coastal Maine for the next little bit -- acupuncture at Rockport (not really acupuncture, but something to do with needles and reading nerve health and messaging); PT at Augusta; Audiology in this, mine own city. ... I'm not sure where the bloodwork's to be done. I'm hoping Thayer, but I need to check the portal.

We are in pursuit of a Better, Longer Term fix for the back, because it's getting worse, and the poor chiropractor has worn out at least three hammers on me, to no real avail. He no sooner pronounces me Aligned, poor man, then my back goes out again for no reason, and I collapse to the floor, screaming. I mean, something's not right when you hurt your back doing Tai Chi.

While in Bath, I went down to the park, obviously, and enjoyed a chocolate peppermint latte at Cafe Cream. It was wonderful, and now I'm sorry I didn't allow myself a scone or a muffin, but! I found that just sitting in a busy cafe, sipping my latte and not doing much else, was ... oddly restorative. I think it helped that everyone was having a reasonably good time; there were no angry voices, or people being nasty to the folks behind the counter, said folks being Genuinely Interested in you and your order ("Ooh, the Yorkie Latte? (this being the official blackboard name of my drink.) You're gonna love that." And she wasn't wrong.)

After I drank my treat, I went across to Now Your Cooking and toured the premises. I bought a couple of gadgets -- including a hook that will help me open pull-tab cans, which has become an issue -- and a what ought to be a very nice red blend bottle of wine, which I plan on opening this evening, to reward myself for having gotten credibly through the morning.

The car's GPS did this to me the last time I went to Bath, but I didn't remember it soon enough to keep it from freaking me out. When you get off the expressway, there is Only One Way to merge with the state route. The GPS Strongly Disagrees with this, and starts screaming ROUTE RECALCULATING! ROUTE RECALCULATING! like a mad thing, and it really gets your heart racing. As I did the time before, I pulled off into the handy shopping center, whereupon the GPS recovered itself and agreed that I had been on the right road. Next time, I'm going to have to Steel Myself to ignore it.

On the way home, I stopped at the Harvest Moon Deli and bought way too much food -- Tikka Marsala soup, which was good, and I ate it all; a roast beast of burden (they name their sandwiches after classic rock songs at the Harvest Moon) sandwich, which I ate a quarter of one half, the other 3/4s destined for the evening meal, and the remaining half either for tomorrow's breakfast or lunch.

I still have paperwork sorting and portal-visiting to do relative to the medical part of the day, so that's what I'll be doing for the rest of the afternoon, with an eye toward hitting the writing space tomorrow and getting something useful done.

And how was your morning?

Before departure, Whatcha Doin' Moms:

minoanmiss

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james_davis_nicoll

There's a planet in the habitable zone... but not an Earthlike planet.

Bad News From Alpha Centauri A…

hudebnik

Sept. 10: Charlie Kirk was shot to death while speaking on a college campus.
(The same day, several high school students were shot in their school in Colorado.)

Within hours, the FBI announced that it had a suspect in custody, but then released that suspect.

Also within hours, with no suspect in custody, much less any evidence about motives, President Trump addressed the American people:

It's long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree, day after day year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible. For years those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now. My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials, and everyone else who brings order to our country. From the attack on my life in Butler, Pennsylvania last year which killed a husband and father to the attacks on ICE agents to the vicious murder of a health care executive in the streets of New York to the shooting of House majority leader Steve Scalise and three others, radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives.

He did not, of course, mention his own history of demonizing those with whom he disagrees, encouraging violence against protesters, describing liberals and Democrats as fascists, criminals, and sub-human animals, attacking judges who rule against him, instigating a riot that attacked law enforcement officials and terrorized members of Congress, and pardoning the rioters. Nor did he mention any liberal or Democratic victims of political violence, such as Paul Pelosi, Jason Shapiro, Melissa and Mark Hortmann, John and Yvette Hoffman, nor the FBI reports stating that a solid majority of political violence in the US is right-wing-inspired.

Sept. 11: Tyler Robinson was taken into custody, after his parents and girlfriend contacted the FBI.

Sept. 12: Mainstream news media (like this in the Times) reported that 22-year-old Tyler Robinson was raised in a solidly Republican family, going hunting in the mountains with his parents, he had a 4.0 average in high school, took several AP and college-level classes, and got a prestigious scholarship to Utah State University, which he left after one semester. He was registered to vote, but not registered to any political party, and had never actually voted. Utah officials said they had found "unfired ammunition that had been engraved with jokes and slang from internet memes as well as the words, “hey fascist! CATCH!”"

Also on Sept. 12, President Trump announced that "we're going to look into Soros", who "should be put in jail ... he's a bad guy" and that George Soros and his son Alex should be charged under RICO “because of their support for Violent Protest, and much more, all throughout the United States of America.”

Sept. 13: More details on cryptic messages Robinson had left, from the Times:

One read, “hey fascist! CATCH! (up arrow symbol, right arrow symbol, and three down arrow symbols),” according to an affidavit filed on Friday in a Utah court.

If the reference to fascism appeared to be straightforward, the arrows were most likely understandable only to certain subsets of gamers. They seem to refer to the popular video game Helldivers 2 and its sequence of controller moves to unleash a powerful bomb.

“It’s a joke in the Helldivers community that you can shut down any argument you disagree with by entering ^ > vvv and blowing the whole thing up,”
...
The messages found on the casings — including puerile jokes and a reference to a popular Italian song — are rooted in that coded communication style of the habitually online.
...
But these messages are difficult to parse. Internet in-jokes and references are slippery things, often deployed with multiple layers of irony. That left many Americans trying to crack the enigmatic messages: Was Mr. Robinson a man of the left or of the right, or something else entirely?
...
“It’s very hard to map a political ideology on this mishmash of video game references and hints of different internet subcultures,” said Emerson Brooking, a fellow at the Atlantic Council, an international-affairs think tank, and a former cyberpolicy adviser at the Defense Department.

One of the messages, “Notices bulges OwO what’s this?,” is often used to mock participants in online role-play communities. Another message said, “If you read This, you are GAY Lmao,” its tone suggesting a kind of sophomoric insult humor common on internet message boards.

Then there was the message that read, “O Bella ciao, Bella ciao, Bella ciao, Ciao, ciao!,” likely a reference to the popular Italian folk song “Bella Ciao.” Popularized as an antifascist anthem in Italy after World War II, it resurfaced globally in recent years because of its inclusion in the hit Netflix series “Money Heist” and in video games, including the first-person shooter game Far Cry 6.

The song is still well-known as antifascist. It was sung as a protest last year by progressive members of the European Parliament during a visit by Viktor Orban, Hungary’s far-right prime minister.

But a number of people noted online on Friday that a version appears on a Spotify playlist meant for Groypers, the followers of Nick Fuentes, the white nationalist who occupies a political space to the right of, and in opposition to, Mr. Kirk.

As people online debated what the references meant, Mr. Brooking mused that the discussion might amount to a mission accomplished for a troll.

“The spectacle,” he said, “has to be the entire point.”

Sept. 15: Attorney General Pam Bondi said, in an ABC News interview,

"Who killed Charlie? Left-wing radicals, and they will be held accountable. So will anyone in this country who commits a violent crime against anyone. And the death penalty, thanks to Donald Trump, is on the table again."

The attorney general, however, did not offer a motive as to why the alleged suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, killed Kirk last Wednesday while he was speaking at an event on a university campus in Utah.

Pressed on whether Robinson acted alone, she said it is an ongoing investigation.

As of Sept. 15, there was no clear evidence about the alleged assassin's motives, just a mishmash of tidbits that could be read as left-wing, right-wing, or just plain attention-seeking, depending largely on your priors. If you were politically left-wing, you saw him as a Republican gun-lover with a video-game habit; if you were politically right-wing, you saw him as a "left-wing radical", pro-trans and anti-fascist. There was also no evidence whatsoever of him conspiring with or being supported by anyone else, despite Bondi's consistent use of the plural.

Later on Sept. 15, Jimmy Kimmel said, in his opening monologue,

We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it, and in between the finger-pointing, there was grieving...

Not one word critical of Charlie Kirk, only the assertion that his murderer was "one of" the MAGA gang, which contradicted Trump-and-Bondi's story that Kirk was killed by a vast "radical left" conspiracy.

Sept. 17: FCC Chair Brendan Carr described Kimmel's statement in an interview as "the sickest conduct possible" and added

I think that it's really sort of past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say 'listen, we are going to preempt -- we are not going to run Kimmel any more until you straighten this out' ... I mean look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.

Stephen Colbert juxtaposes this with quotes from Brendan Carr in 2020:

From Internet memes to late-night comedians ... Political Satire ... helps hold those in power accountable... Shutting down this type of political speech -- especially at the urging of those targeted or threatened by its message -- would represent a serious threat to our freedoms.

Within hours, Nexstar and Sinclair, two companies that each own dozens of ABC affiliate stations and are both seeking FCC approval for mergers and acquisitions, obediently announced that they would refuse to run Jimmy Kimmel's show.

Carr responded on X:

I want to thank Nexstar for doing the right thing.

Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values.

I hope that other broadcasters follow Nexstar’s lead.

A few hours later, Disney/ABC (which is also seeking FCC approval for a sale) announced that it would cancel Jimmy Kimmel's show "indefinitely".

[Stephen Colbert points out that when his show was cancelled two months ago, while his employer was seeking FCC approval for a merger, Trump had celebrated and added "Kimmel is NEXT to go"]

Sept. 18: President Trump said "Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk." He did not identify what "horrible thing" Kimmel had said.

Later on the 18th, he posted on Truth Social

Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED. Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done. Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!! President DJT

james_davis_nicoll

Sabrena's life is full of struggles already. The last thing she needs is an other-worldly adventure. Life is, alas, not considerate of a teen's preferences.

Sabrena Swept Away by Karuna Riazi

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3144/

People looking for the gaps in our understanding where the meaning of consciousness or free will might hide often turn to quantum uncertainty or infinite cosmologies, as if we don't have breathtakingly complex emergent phenomena right there in our freezers.

https://xkcd.com/3144/

yhlee

Ah, the art yarn of it all. :3

handspun yarn

2-ply from these singles:

minoanmiss

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minoanmiss

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Current Mood: exhausted

hudebnik

Roughly the same Thing as in this post: a 5km run/walk along the banks of the Hudson River, sponsored by My Benevolent Employer. I apparently finished in 31:58 minutes, one second faster than last year, or 10:17 minutes per mile, 73rd percentile for time among all the runners (which isn't bad, since I was probably 95th percentile by age). I was drenched in sweat, and fairly wiped out physically for a couple of hours thereafter.

Returned to the office, changed my shirt, and had some grapes (carbs AND water! Two great tastes that taste great together!), sat in air conditioning for a while, then went home, took a shower, and changed everything else. Feeling better now.

asakiyume

I have a flash story in the current issue of Not One of Us, and what a great issue to be in! I'm sharing the table of contents with Patricia Russo, Sonya Taaffe, and Jeannelle Ferreira--all writers I've loved for a long time--along with Devan Barlow, whose work I've only gotten to know recently, but I enjoy, and others whose work is totally new to me but whose literary acquaintance I'm pleased to make, like Zary Fekete.

Let me share a little (and then a lot!) about my own story first, and then some about the other contributions. Mine is called "The Moon in His Eyes," about a young woman who marries a water buffalo, only to fall in love with the moon on her wedding night. Curious about what happens? Well, you can buy a copy of Not One of Us here.

... or, if you don't mind being read to... I read it aloud here. It's literally just me sitting in my study reading into my desktop computer's camera and microphone all in a single take because I know nothing of video editing and am much too lazy, at present, to learn.

And now let me say a few words about the rest of the zine.

( I really enjoyed this issue! )

So yeah! Get your hands on a copy of the zine here, and listen to me read "The Moon in His Eyes" here. ;-)

rolanni

Installment ONE: So, I got up, had breakfast, carried my tea to Steve's office, and was at work by 9:15. Surfaced at 11:55 to go down to do my duty to the cats and take a walk. Now need to figure out if I'm going to order in or just zap a Lean Cuisine.

I need to do a couple things in the business office, from which location I write to you. Those include finishing making a list for my PCP visit tomorrow, researching where the new office actually is, and downloading the Word Book from this computer to take back to the writing computer, which had redlined every other word in the manuscript because it hasn't been brought up to date.

Firefly kept me company in the writing room all morning, and Rookie popped in and out. He was clearly a little concerned about me sitting in Steve's chair -- was I actually allowed to do that? Apparently, he went off and checked the paperwork, because he has clearly accepted that, yes, I can do that.

Hope everybody's having a good day. It's lovely and sunny here, warm, but not hot.

Installment TWO: Everyone who asked after the keyboard. It is a Kinesis Advantage2 keyboard. I've been using them for at least 20 years; started when my wrists went bad and I bullheadedly refused to give up typing, because speech recognition did not work for me at all. This is what happens when what you actually do instead of pronouncing words correctly is fake people into thinking you talk good by a combination of inflection and body language, neither of which translates into computer programs.

The Kinesis Advantage2 helps because your wrists are in a neutral position and your fingers can hang down in a neutral position, rather than being Poised! To! Strike! as is the case with a standard flat keyboard.

Yes, the learning curve was vile. And, also yes, the trade off is that I now can't type on a flat keyboard, so if I'm taking my laptop on a trip, I either have to also take a keyboard almost as big as the laptop, or Accept that I'm going to be reduced to two-fingering it for as long as I'm away.

This is always a difficult choice because typing is my mode of expression of choice, right after interpretive dance.

Installment THREE: OK, fun game!

First question: Do the Liaden books have any "tropes"? Examples given "grumpy sunshine," "found family," "the chosen one"? (What on earth is "grumpy sunshine" and do people really push the "tropes" in their books?)

Second question: Can you give us a 1 sentence (30 words) quote form one of your books? ("Yes," which is my go-to, is not in this case a Valid Answer.)

In other news, the Lean Cuisine won, because I made the mistake of checking my mail. My plan is to eat, and then go back and write for another couple hours.

Installment FOUR: OK. I have written to the originators of the Survey which included the Fun Questions.

So far today, I have Scrutinized the chapter-by-chapter, identified holes in the narrative and sketched in a couple of ideas to fill them. I finished writing a scene, for a total of more-or-less 1250 new words, and did more research. At this point, I might as well open my own noodle shop (no, I haven't watched the movie yet; I'm a little leery of spillage, since I'm actively working on this situation for the book). I hoped to write more today, but that's probably not going to happen? Because mail, and also I really ought to wash the dishes so I can find the sink. And see if, one! more! time! I can find LibreOffice's Word Book.

Tomorrow is the much-complained about trip to Bath and the PCP. I suppose I might as well declare a Writer's Day Off at this point, hit the bakery and tour the kitchen store, and plan on getting back to work on Saturday.

It looks like next week, I have, with the exception of Tuesday evening needlework, nothing scheduled, so that's like a whole uninterrupted week of work. Fingers crossed that nothing comes up to force a change of plans.

So, that's it. I feel like I had a very successful test-drive of separating the mundane and the writing work spaces, and I hope this continues to prove out.

Everybody have a good evening; I'll check in as I can.