Everyone is Doing it, So Why Not Me?

Originally posted onTuesday, August 29, 2006

Okay, so they tell me I really should blog. There's nothing to it, they say, everyone does it. Just write whatever comes into your head. That should be about as fascinating as watching grass grow. To say nothing of being heavily narcissistic I mean does anyone really care about my mental meanderings? What about spelling? Do I have to use correct punctuation? Im really shaky on punctuation because my family took its annual vacation during the months of April and May when my school taught the new rules they expected us to know for the next year. Don't even ask how I am with fractions they taught those in the spring too. As for the vacation thing my fathers slow season happened during April and May so that's when he was free to take off and he figured to hell with the school schedule. As my mother said to me recently, Howard was an individualist. Back in the day, when she was trying to explain to the school principal that I was going to be out of the country for six weeks, she had other things to say about him. But hes been dead since 1957 so hes achieved the usual post- mortem sainthood people always acquire when theyre not around to annoy us. See what I mean about this blogging thing being a snore fest? I meant to talk about my new book and the book that's coming out in paperback at the end of the month and instead I wound up talking about my dead father. And its dangerous. I just realized how badly I dated myself by admitting that they taught punctuation when I was in school. And fractions. Was that a complete sentence? I missed a whole bunch of grammar when I was a kid too. So about the books. The one I'm working on will go to the editor at the end of this month. Then, while shes editing, Ill spend a couple of weeks desperately reviewing all the other careers that were open to me that I should have pursued. Like cake decorating Or a dog grooming. Actually the dog grooming thing probably wouldn't have worked out for me. I don't know if you've ever seen a dog laugh. That's what happens whenever I ask one of our dogs to do something Joshie, sweetheart, I say, Put down that library book. Now! I say it firmly, I project pack leader authority the way the dog trainer keeps telling me to each week. Well, that dog will rolling on the floor with mirth. He will be laughing and pointing. He will also decimate that book in forty two seconds and bring the remains to my husband for whom he actually does have respect. I dont like to complain, but its hard being married to a man who gets the kind of canine approval I imagine was once reserved for St Francis of Assisi. But I digress. Again. Meanwhile, while my new book is being edited, and my life is passing before my eyes because I have self esteem issues -- and I'm not going into them because I'm going to stay on track The Ladies Of Garrison Gardens will be coming out in paperback on August 27. For anyone who might be reading this who is not a member of my family and God love you if you arethat is the book after I wrote after The Three Miss Margarets. We got good reviews with it, its a sequel to The Three Miss Margarets in a slightly circuitous way and Id love for you all to buy it, for a variety of reasons, including I think you'll like it and we need to redo the bathroom but Im wandering again. If you have a book club, please get in touch with my stepson who runs my website and set up a time when I can get on the phone with you guys and we can talk about it. I love talking to book clubs and it keeps me busy so I dont go too crazy wondering if I shouldn't have bought that Taco Bell franchise back in 1992.