Research and Weekend Plans

I'm behind. I'm a week behind on the book, and probably two weeks behind on blog posting. Won't even talk about my laundry, but the kitchen is hanging on by the skin of its teeth.

Such an odd phrase - skin of its teeth. Especially since teeth don't have skin.

I'm a little loopy. Frankly, I'd love nothing better than a nap but I'm fighting those instincts and trying to get things done. Like blog.

I called the Art Institute of Portland today to see if I could schedule a tour of the campus. I came clean about being a writer - having a phone conversation as your character is exhausting enough, trying to be them in person seems daunting. While I half expected the admissions office to blow me off so they'd have time for real students, the office was very helpful, even directed me to their PR person.

We get to do that Saturday. Also on tap Saturday, earlier that day, is a meeting with my web designer. We've kind of tried to put things together over the phone - not something I'd recommend. It's like giving advice about a painting over the phone. So we're getting together, hopefully over cupcakes. We'll also take some additional author shots for the website; the kind of shots we get and what I wear will decide the color palate for the site. There are decisions to be made. I kind of suck at decisions. For a while I was thinking, two days, I'll only pack for two days. That's not much! But now I'm realizing I'll need to bring clothing options and books for props...this is all practical, mind you. None of my over-packing tendencies are coming into play here.

Cupcakes, on the other hand - I'm great with cupcakes.

After the tour and after the web meeting, we'll most likely be heading down to Powell's to look at their rare books. More and more of Simply Sara seems to revolve around rare manuscripts, and I've really enjoyed the research. Finally found this site for terminology, so I finally know what it means when pages are "foxed."

I had intended to head to the U of O's Knight Library to look at their collection, but I couldn't come up with the energy. The books aren't going anywhere, and when I'm spending this much time stressing over the book, it's nice to have another afternoon at home to work.

Tonight we're helping my brother and his wife move into their new apartment, which brings back memories of moving into ours. I remember waking up in the morning, stumbling into the living room, and sorting through the boxes of belongings and wedding gifts.

An update on the basil: it is still alive. However, it's been fairly unhappy with me since I left it for a short period of time in a hot car on a 100+ degree day (I don't usually take it for drives; the reason it was in the car was that I had to take it to my grandmother's before the Canada trip, and thought it would be prudent to run errands before hand. Little did I know).

These days, it gets a little wiggy if it gets too much sun. I'm hoping to keep it alive through the winter, though, so here's hoping.