Things I’ve meant to blog about but haven’t:

For starters, the great books I got from authors I met at the Pulpwood Queens Girlfriend weekend: “One Good Mama Bone,” by Bren McClain. “Wickwythe Hall,” by Judithe Little, and “Since You’ve Been Gone,” by Christa Allan (another Caroline Leavitt friend!). Bren’s is the only one I’ve had a chance to start but … hoo boy! It starts with a birth and a death and it hasn’t let up. Deep Southern Gothic – and a cow, too!

The archaeological state of my desk. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m afraid to throw things out when I’m deep in writing/revisions, for fear that I’ll lose some important note or reminder. I don’t think this is just an excuse. Does this happen to anyone else?

An idea for a short story, which would be one long stream of consciousness, a la “Pincher Martin.” Then again, I’m no William Golding.

The things you can read while you’re writing. This is a hard one, because I often find I want to read something very light – but it can’t be anything at all close to what I’m working on. This last month, I’ve spent an absurdly long time working through Colin Cotterill’s “I Shot the Buddha,” a few pages each night, for this reason. Then there’s the growing list of books that I set aside for when I can read whatever I want (see above, also, Robert Harris’s “Munich,” etc.)

The fact that as more time goes by, I am increasingly second-guessing my hairstyle and color. Then again, this could simply have been a way of procrastinating… which I now no longer need to do….