Random Thoughts

I opened up this screen to make an entry and then sat and stared out the window for a good ten minutes until the phone rang. It was Blair, calling to tell me he's on his way home. He's been volunteering the last several weekends with an organization that provides free tax help to people. This was the last Saturday and they were busy. But he's on his way home now and after he eats a late lunch (he's moaning because I ate the leftover spaghetti for my lunch that he was planning to have for his but hey, I didn't know) we're going to go see Capote.  I just read In Cold Blood in the last year or so and am looking forward to seeing a movie that's been getting such great reviews.  Plus, I really like Philip Seymour Hoffman from all the past character roles I've seen him in.

But to get back to my point, as I opened this blog, I couldn't really think of what to write about.  I've had a number of random little thoughts cross my mind in the last couple of days, but nothing that can stand on it's own as blog worthy.  So I thought we'd try a little smorgasbord, dump everything in, and see what we get.  In no particular order, here are my thoughts:

• I wonder if we eat too much Chinese? We eat out at the little place in our town at least twice a week. That much MSG just can't be good for us.
• I just finished reading Joan Didion's A Year of Magical Thinking.  I'm captivated by the life she and her husband led. The book is about her coping mechanisms after his sudden death, but in coming to grips with that, she replays a lot of their life together.  They were both writers and worked from home. Sometimes they collaborated on screenplays. If she was in a different town, he might hop a plane to meet her for dinner, then hop a plane back home. They ate dinner out at 11 at night in New York, splitting a pasta and small salad. They threw dinner parties. They would take over a hotel room in Hawaii for months and work from there.  Their world was filled with their work and with each other.  They appear very intellectual. I wonder what it would be like to be in their circle of friends or to lead a similar life?
• I'm obsessed with American Idol again. And a new Amazing Race starts this week. Might as well just plant me in front of the TV with a remote and be done with it.
• My yoga class was cancelled today so I did a Pilates tape. My abs hurt. Maybe I should skip a yoga session a week and replace it with a pilates session instead.
• I need new jeans for England.  Do people dress up to over there or can I get away with being comfy in jeans and gym shoes?
  
• Watching the judges comment on American Idol on whether contestants were "nice" or "real" or "sincere" got me thinking...I wonder how my personality would be perceived in a type of "American Idol for writers" competition? I'm not so sure I'd fare well...
• Why? Greedy.  I want my book to sell. You know those people that say, "Oh, if I can reach only one person in life, I've succeeded..."? Screw that. If you like my book, tell your mom, tell your friends, send postcard reminders and take out an ad telling people so.  Hustle, people, hustle!
• Critique groups. I adore mine and would never leave, but I'm not so sure it's a good idea to have a rough draft of a novel critiqued. I'm wondering if I should submit old stuff for critique while I'm working on the new stuff.  Still in the mulling over stage on that one.
• I haven't heard from my mom in over a week.  Why?
• I'm ready for Spring.  I think what happened is that my daffodils bloomed due to all the warm weather we've had. But it's supposed to be 22 degrees Monday morning so we're not out of it yet.
• I want to spend tomorrow planning our England/Scotland trip.  After I try out a new muffin recipe I ripped out from Better Homes & Gardens.
• I cleaned the house this morning. An exercise in futility as the Tile Guy will be here Monday and all the dust will come right back with him, but the clean house will provide me with a very happy 48 hours.  My mood elevates dramatically once things are clean.
  

Interviewing: Sometimes Less is More

I've over interviewed for an article I'm putting together on traveling with pets in an RV.  It's a 1200-word article which means 2-3 interviews would suffice.  I'm up to six.  My challenge now is to put all the information I've collected into a succinct article to the best of my ability without worrying about possibly having to injure the feelings of others if it turns out I can't use their information in the piece.

This is why I try not to over interview.  When people are kind enough to share their time and knowledge,  I don't like having to call and tell them that I couldn't fit them into my article. I think it's rude and shows poor planning on  my part. But I over interview sometimes out of a general panic (for lack of a better word). This is a new topic for me in a magazine I've never written for before.  So I want to make sure I nail the subject and therefore go into an information-collecting frenzy. This actually does a disservice to me as well.  I can't possibly insert all the information I've collected and if I try, I'll end up with a disjointed article with no flow or focus.  But I'm always loathe to leave out good information I possess.  It's better to have a focus, conduct the 2-3 interviews, write the piece and move on.

On the bright side, I'm interested in my topic and everyone I've talked to has been extremely helpful with some really funny stories.  I spoke to a woman yesterday who RV's with her 10, count 'em, 10 cats.  And I spoke to a woman who traveled for a year around the country with her two chihuahuas.  Great stories.

But sometimes less is more, and later today I will sit down and go through pages and pages of notes and try to figure out what stays and what must go.  It will all work out in the end.  It always does and I pull comfort from that.

Senator Barack Obama

My sister called me today, very excited. Senator Barack Obama spoke at the college campus she works at and used her office to meet with state officials and sign books.

Understand, Nicole and I are both HUGE Obama fans.  Put him up for President and watch me vote for him. Nicole spent quite a bit of time talking to the staff person who was with the Senator and she said, "I think he should  run for President." The man's response was, "Okay, I can't really tell him that but YOU certainly can."

Nicole got to stay in the room for Obama's meeting and spent a little bit of time talking to him as he signed books. She said, "I have to tell you this," and he kind of looked up at her and she said, "You were hilarious on the Daily Show." He laughed and she said, "We Tivo'd it and watched it over and over."

When he was leaving, the Senator looked at Nicole and said, "Thanks, Nicole. Tell your husband I said hello."  So Nicole races to the phone and calls Grant at work and says, "The senator wanted me to be sure and tell you he says hello."

It Warms A Mothers Heart

I arrived home today after a long day (16 hours) and an even longer rainy drive home. (Tip to NC drivers: When a car approaches and you see their headlights in the distance, that's the time to dim your brights. Not when you're almost right on top of me).  As I hung my coat up in the front room, I noticed Lucy in her new favorite resting spot--on top of our new bedroom comforter. The comforter is folded over and laying on the front guestbed, away from the dust of the renovations.  We just discovered last night that this is Lucy's new hangout spot.  Actually, Blair discovered it.  He saw her on the comforter and said, "Hey, you're not supposed to be on there" in the cooing voice pet owners use when we're pretending to be upset but we're really not. But then he gasped and I heard "Oh my God.  Look at all this hair."  Apparently Ms. Lucy has been making herself at home there, unnoticed, for some time now.

Anyway, I get home and decide I need some kitty therapy so I walk over to pet Lucy. It takes a few strokes before I glance behind us and notice Olivia, curled up in a little ball beside the comforter, keeping an eye on Lucy.

 SO SWEEEET.  My babies!  You have to understand. I don't have cats that hang out together.  I think Olivia would like to, but Lucy barely deems to tolerate her. So it was so touching that both of them were curled up on this bed, just like buddies.  It improved my mood instantly. I cooed and fussed and gave Lucy kisses. "Your little sister loves you," I told her. "Doesn't that make you feel good?"

She said nothing in reply, but I think she understood me.

As for me, it's almost 11:30 PM but I think I'm up for awhile.  I'm extremely tired but also wired just from being on the go for so long today.  I'd love to run a hot bath but it would wake Blair up. Given the amount of construction dust that has drifted into our bedroom from the bath (the cats are writing "WASH ME" in the dust on the floor with their paws), we have moved to the upstairs bedroom until renovations are complete.

Speaking of which, I'm going to go check and see if the Tile Guy was here today.  Then I think hot tea and a book and maybe--finally--sleep.