Book's Away
Just as I was ready to press SEND, however, I noticed two things--the filename of the book was still the unimpressive working filename it had all along, not its title, and the header line had the even more minimal working name of the whole thing: K-III. So, sometime around 7 am, another bit of revision produced a filename consonant with the title, and the same for the header line. It finally left here in time to arrive on Editor's desk at opening of business. I hoped.
Then came breakfast and waiting to be sure that Agent and Editor had received it (since emails have gone astray before and this one was, um, big. Quite big. However, Editor emailed receipt fairly quickly and then Agent, and I turned the computer off and started doing non-writing things.
Nonwriting things included laundry, (2 loads) and an attack on a very, very, very stuffed and useless kitchen drawer. Originally, 30 years ago, that kitchen drawer's contents made sense and were neatly arrayed. That was 30 years ago. In the meantime, it had gradually become the junk drawer, into which anything that had no proper home was shoved. For instance:
parts to an old toilet paper holder with their heavy screws.
a tent stake
3 old glass-mercury thermometers (no wonder I couldn't find one when I was sick!)
pieces of candle that I had planned to melt down to make another candle
many, many, many (hundreds!!) of bread ties
still-neatly-attached garbage bag ties
an old roll of gauze bandage
a box of Band-Aids (yes, that brand) with a hiking compass in it
several boxes of birthday candles
2 packets of paper matches
mysterious heavy corroded plumbing parts (from sink?)
a roll of kite string
a tube of hand lotion, very dead
a tube of Ben-Gay (not checked out yet)
an empty tube of Metholatum
a dozen or so pencils, pens, and markers
clips for holding chip bags closed
earplugs (several kinds, including a lot of green ones stuck together in a sheet)
1 long common nail
5 finishing nails
3 small rocks
a small heavy metal cylinder with felt on one end (paperweight we decided. Ugly)
a couple of .22 casings
a very dead all-in-one flashlight
a couple of D batteries, age unknown
a package of small locks, with keys
several mismatched keys of unknown provenance
....and much, much, too much more.
The reason to clear this drawer was the other drawer, on the other side of the sink, which had a miscellany of utensils and had become full enough to jam frequently, especially since the addition of the lovely, but fairly "fat" lemon-lime squeezer. Now the cleared drawer has the rolling pin, the "bench scraper" (drywall tool, a lot cheaper and just as effective as the expensive bench scrapers you see on TV cooking shows--and it won't scratch an old laminate counter), the wooden cooking tools, the plastic & rubber spatulas, the lemon-lime squeezer, the ancient Mouli grater (also talented at jamming the drawer, if crowded), the silicone sauce brush, the little whisk, and the red plastic dipper....the tools I use most often. (The knives are in the sharps drawer next to this one.)
The former home of these items is now less crowded and not jamming.
Some of the things in the junk drawer were instantly consigned to the trash, and some had an obvious right place to be (thermometers back in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom) but some are still sitting in sorted groups on the kitchen table. They must be found a home before I dig into the other difficult drawers. But first: put the sheets back on the bed, sort and fold the other load, and...oh, yeah, cook supper. Time flies when you're having fun.
I did try for a nap to make up on the sleep lost in the last days of getting the book out on time, but husband's dentist's receptionist woke me up with an entirely too perky voice to announce that he'd called for an appointment and they'd had a cancellation and how about tomorrow?
Meanwhile our neighbor who has a lot of chickens (yay!) brought us eggs. Lots of eggs. Three dozen eggs. So for lunch I did a cheese omelet. Yum.
And until Editor pronounces on what needs to be done to the book, I'm free...at least for another 24 hours. (There are other major annual chores coming up, two of which involve considerable writing.
Then came breakfast and waiting to be sure that Agent and Editor had received it (since emails have gone astray before and this one was, um, big. Quite big. However, Editor emailed receipt fairly quickly and then Agent, and I turned the computer off and started doing non-writing things.
Nonwriting things included laundry, (2 loads) and an attack on a very, very, very stuffed and useless kitchen drawer. Originally, 30 years ago, that kitchen drawer's contents made sense and were neatly arrayed. That was 30 years ago. In the meantime, it had gradually become the junk drawer, into which anything that had no proper home was shoved. For instance:
parts to an old toilet paper holder with their heavy screws.
a tent stake
3 old glass-mercury thermometers (no wonder I couldn't find one when I was sick!)
pieces of candle that I had planned to melt down to make another candle
many, many, many (hundreds!!) of bread ties
still-neatly-attached garbage bag ties
an old roll of gauze bandage
a box of Band-Aids (yes, that brand) with a hiking compass in it
several boxes of birthday candles
2 packets of paper matches
mysterious heavy corroded plumbing parts (from sink?)
a roll of kite string
a tube of hand lotion, very dead
a tube of Ben-Gay (not checked out yet)
an empty tube of Metholatum
a dozen or so pencils, pens, and markers
clips for holding chip bags closed
earplugs (several kinds, including a lot of green ones stuck together in a sheet)
1 long common nail
5 finishing nails
3 small rocks
a small heavy metal cylinder with felt on one end (paperweight we decided. Ugly)
a couple of .22 casings
a very dead all-in-one flashlight
a couple of D batteries, age unknown
a package of small locks, with keys
several mismatched keys of unknown provenance
....and much, much, too much more.
The reason to clear this drawer was the other drawer, on the other side of the sink, which had a miscellany of utensils and had become full enough to jam frequently, especially since the addition of the lovely, but fairly "fat" lemon-lime squeezer. Now the cleared drawer has the rolling pin, the "bench scraper" (drywall tool, a lot cheaper and just as effective as the expensive bench scrapers you see on TV cooking shows--and it won't scratch an old laminate counter), the wooden cooking tools, the plastic & rubber spatulas, the lemon-lime squeezer, the ancient Mouli grater (also talented at jamming the drawer, if crowded), the silicone sauce brush, the little whisk, and the red plastic dipper....the tools I use most often. (The knives are in the sharps drawer next to this one.)
The former home of these items is now less crowded and not jamming.
Some of the things in the junk drawer were instantly consigned to the trash, and some had an obvious right place to be (thermometers back in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom) but some are still sitting in sorted groups on the kitchen table. They must be found a home before I dig into the other difficult drawers. But first: put the sheets back on the bed, sort and fold the other load, and...oh, yeah, cook supper. Time flies when you're having fun.
I did try for a nap to make up on the sleep lost in the last days of getting the book out on time, but husband's dentist's receptionist woke me up with an entirely too perky voice to announce that he'd called for an appointment and they'd had a cancellation and how about tomorrow?
Meanwhile our neighbor who has a lot of chickens (yay!) brought us eggs. Lots of eggs. Three dozen eggs. So for lunch I did a cheese omelet. Yum.
And until Editor pronounces on what needs to be done to the book, I'm free...at least for another 24 hours. (There are other major annual chores coming up, two of which involve considerable writing.