Sacrilege! And Asides

On Facebook, a friend asked me if I was prepared to degrade myself this much for a writing career. I was expecting a lame, exploitative novel at the other end of the link he posted, but…wow. Not that.

All I could think was, What the hell? What’s going on in the world of publishing? Has to be a hoax, I thought. Hardly. You can find this joke of a novel on Amazon.com.

I’m not a Jane Austen purist, but this is going too far, waaay too far…

Our dear Elizabeth Bennett trading witticisms with zombies? Sacrilege!
Our dear Elizabeth Bennett trading witticisms with zombies? Sacrilege!

Isn’t that nuts? And, no, I’m not willing to degrade myself that far.

On an aside, yesterday I had a wacky economic-downturn moment. Driving from here to there to there on a ridiculously complicated quest for black printer ink, I saw four going-out-of-business liquidation sales–and the hundreds of people taking advantage of those sales. It was absurd, all those people feverishly spending money they probably didn’t have just because Circuit City and Levitz Furniture (amongst others) have succumbed.  

On the other hand, millions of people across the U.S. buying up inventories at rock-bottom prices…Isn’t that what Bush kept wanting? Citizens spending money?

On a related aside: Read an amusing article in the New York Times about how the bad economy makes for a great excuse. And I’ll quote:

A number of novelists said they have used the prefabricated recession alibi without guilt pangs. Perhaps that’s because they make up stories for a living. (Hehe, too true.)

…Clea Simon, a mystery writer in Cambridge, Mass., said she skipped a conference where she was supposed to speak, using the economy as an excuse to mask her real reason: shyness.

…With the downturn, she said, “I had the perfect excuse to stay home.” (I’ve been using it as an  excuse too, actually.)

Snow Day!

snowday1It doesn’t take much for this California girl to call it a snow day and hunker inside, happy as a kid on hookie day. It might surprise you to know that Portland doesn’t get much snow that sticks, much less accumulates. And I’ll be the first to claim that I can’t drive on days like this. I’m a wuss that way.

So, yippee! A snow day!

I get to sip the spiced cioccolata that I bought for my book group, postponed until next weekend, and nibble on the traditional Czech holiday cookies that I bought from a woman who’s a fabulous baker. Yippee!

I get to cuddle on the sofa and write Christmas cards while watching the BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries, the one with young Colin Firth rising out of the water in soaked white blouse. You must remember that — put Firth on the map in these here United States. And, yes, I own the DVDs…

I get to tramp to the grocery store in the hiking boots I rarely get a chance to use (and that I love!) and take a few pictures along the way.

snowday2I get to laugh at my dog when I eventually take her out on a pee break. She’s not going to be pleased.

It’s not as if I had an eventful day planned after my book group, but somehow it will be more fun writing my Christmas cards now. I call snow days one of life’s little pleasures.

Right now, though, I’m heading back to bed to read the latest novel with a spiced cioccolata mocha. Yippee!