It’s Update Day Again
Last week went sideways when I broke a tooth on Thursday — and the dentist was closed until Monday.
Being minus a tooth didn’t stop me from doing all the busy things I had planned for Thursday through Monday. It just made all of them more stressful and slower. So I didn’t get as much done as I would’ve liked. But, and this is key—I STILL GOT WRITING DONE, woo!
Thursday was the annual Glass Pumpkin Fest preview night at the Morton Arboretum (smaller crowds, no competitiveness, just cookies, and drinks and lots of pretty things to ooh and aah over. Got there late-ish, but still had a blast admiring all the artworks and burgeoning fall colors in the gardens, and once again came home with a couple of fragile pretty-shinies that have been tucked away to become Solstice gifts when that rolls around.
Friday I had lunch with a bestest friend and then embarked on a new tidying-up project. I need Ingramspark to fix a few things on the titles they distribut for me. (Some don’t show up on platforms where they’re supposd to be available, old covers are still showing on a few, etc and so on.) It’s all the kind of stuff that can happen to complex online files over time, and I’ve been doing this for, yikes, 9 year now so not suprising some errors have crept in. So! I’m gathering all the data for affected ISBNS and confirming the various issues before I get into a phone call situation.
Ducks. Lined up. Having all the facts on hand is how I calm the anxiety of having to talk to people.
There was illness in the house over the weekend, so I got to do the caregiver thing, and no one objected when all I wanted to eat was mashed potatoes with cheese and homemade soft biscuits. (TOOTH, ya know.) I used some of the downtime to research new public transit possibilities for getting to a Big Event on Monday night that I was going to have to race to get to after finally seeing the dentist.
Monday I picked out my book reading for the Big Gumbo Fiction Farewell to Tina Event and worked on new book page tempates for the website while fretting over Tooth Repair uncertainties and Big Event anxieties. (You may be noticing that fretting is A Theme.)
ANYway. The website work is the reason why, if you click on “Gumbo Fiction” in my site naviation menu, you go direct to a product page for a FREE copy of the Relics From A Traveling Show ebook. Trick or treat! Until 31 October—or I give away 50 copies, whichever comes first(extra NOTE: the checkout page asks for an address, but I really only need name and email to send the download, so indulge in creative data entry for the street addy if you like.)
Why am I doing this? Because now that I know how to format simple product pages in 20 minutes or less, I am having fun DOING that. Also I like giving away free things.
ANYway. I made that page, went to the dentist, got Dental Work Part 1 completed, and with my face still all numb, I went downtown to the Gumbo Fiction Going Away Party. Spouseman accompanied me, as he was having cravings for Irish food and the party was at The Galway Arms, which serves a tasty corned beef sandwich and excellent mashed potatoes.
The potatoes were for me, since I STILL had only part of a tooth. (tooth #12, for those who know which tooth goes where) The replacement had to be created specially for me, and it takes several hours. My awesome dentist fit me in at the end of the day Tuesday to fit the new crown, and I HAVE A TOOTH AGAIN. Woot!
Had a great time chewing with all my teeth last night after my shift was done at the ‘brar. Because of course I went straight from the dentist to work. (The novacaine wore off before 8PM, I took some ibuprofen immediately after…) But I did not complete blog last night because I was mega-tired. The readings Monday went until 11 PM and we still had to haul ourselves home to the ‘burbs, and then I was wired from all the social interaction and the adrenaline rush of reading, etc. And then there was the hour+ for getting new tooth fitted, which is always tiring.
But. I wrote a lot Tuesday, and I wrote a lot today, and one of my alpha readers has already provided Big Inspiration and some epic awesome observations about Two Angry Women With Cats (“Izzy has found herself but not her power, Nora has found her power but not herself"“ which is EXACTLY the truth and on point and so pithy I need to find a way to use it as a teaser.
Big relief always, to get validation that what I’m trying to communicate is what is actually ended up on the page.
But I digress. I’ve also gotten a lot of “zomg family visit this weekend” cleaning done, all the laundry is temporarily clean, and I have a call with my Ghost Town writing partner later tonight. There’s apparently news about the book and changes to make. Maybe? We’ve been playing phone tag since Sunday. I’ll report on that next time. And maybe I’ll have pics of the fall garden. All the trees are changing fast now that it’s getting cool, and it should have some pretty colors soon.
That’s all for now. Please enjoy these pics of Pippin being adorable.
