A couple of individuals have written inquiring as to my dead-or-alive status. Wow – I take a couple of days off and my public misses me. I feel all warm inside.

Status: Alive.

Detailed status: I burned my left thumb in the steam from a boiling kettle this morning. I’m such an idiot. Then I thought my tea would be too hot to drink and forgot about it. Nice to see that some things just don’t change, isn’t it.

Events of the past two days: Work, work, work.

Career update: Talked to that US publisher yesterday. They want me to write an editorial letter on two book proposals with my opinion on changes and improvements, and submit it tomorrow morning as a sort of test run. They also want (gulp) a press packet: a folder with a pretty CV, some writing samples, a one-page detailing my expertise (think an in-depth bio), and a photograph.

Freelance update: Work, work, work. My original source that went on hiatus at the beginning of the summer has revived, hurrah!

The Great Canadian Novel update: Touched up the penultimate chapter, and rewrote the last chapter to keep my protagonist where she was instead of sending her to Europe. Europe is definitely the end of the novel. Now that barrier has been removed, I feel much more optimistic. Next step: coming up with an outline for the three chapters between now and Europe. Writing without an outline to this point has been fun, discovering what was happening in my protagonist’s life and all, but now I have to think about what’s gone before and handle all my plot threads deftly. I think I’ve done a good job doing so on the fly (hmm – now that I think about it, my attitude concerning the unfolding of this novel has been very serial-like: no retreat, no revision, no regret!) but at the end I have to be cautious as well as inventive, or the whole thing will fall flat.

Story exercises I have been given which I have completed: Two.

Story exercises that I have been given which are incomplete: Three. (None exist in any sort of typed form. They’re all in pencil notes in a notebook.)

Story exercises that I have been given which I haven’t touched at all: One.

Plans for the next two days: Work, work, work.

So you’ve been warned: I’m likely to not be terribly communicative for the rest of the week. It’s nothing personal. It has to do with making money to feed my cats and myself (oh, fine, yes, and buying books and new music which I haven’t done in oh so long), and securing a glorious tailored-for-me-and-no-one-else career. I’m sure you understand.

Hurrah! I’m coming at you from three inches lower than usual!

No, our apartment building didn’t sink. My husband finally took three inches off the legs of my desk. This will, I hope, reduce shoulder strain, wrist strain, and back problems.

I freely admit that most people will find this work surface too low. I, however, am not most people. With a short torso, I usually find my shoulders hunched up in an effort to get my arms into a manageable position to work on the desk surface. Sure, I could raise the chair, but then my knees bump into the keyboard shelf, and my feet dangle, creating – yes – more back strain. For a few years I’ve been struggling to balance between the two issues, raising or lowering the chair just to get some short-term relief from the previous position.

I love my new desk.

And there was a message on my machine Friday from that US publishing company saying that they had a ton of news and updates for me, and they were hoping I’d like them and still feel like coming aboard the project.

Are they kidding? I spent the rest of the day chanting, “They still want me, they still want me!”