Cranking it out

Yesterday (Friday) was mostly spent working like a dog on Money Shots: doing some last-minute research at the grocery store (oops, forgot to talk about all those new refrigerated coffees and how you can save $ with them), editing recipes, adding to the text portion of the book, assigning ISBNs through Bowker. I love this stage of book-writing--the end is nigh and the incoherence has been beaten and massaged into words manageable.

I even do my own author photographs, although most people today would call this a "selfie." Pardon the warpaint.

What is really enjoyable is having all my fingers in the pie, not just the writing one. I suspect I'm more of a manager than an artist at heart; maybe a manager with artistic sensibilities. Whenever I take those left brain/right brain quizzes, I fall in the middle somewhere, maybe a little bit more to the left on one day, more to the right on the next. I'm not one of those writers who throws up her hands at the prospect of doing some math, figuring out a bit of geometry, or working on some website coding that's gone wonky.

Anyway, yesterday was a productive, satisfying day that left me feeling like, "Ok, I've accomplished something here." Writing isn't particularly hard for me as much as it's tedious and slow business. So I'm going to enjoy the weekend and finish my new denim skirt, which only needs to be hemmed. "Only" is misleading here; it's a button-up skirt with a facing and I can't quite figure out from the directions what I'm supposed to do with that flap of fabric, but I'll figure it out after a few more cups of coffee. Then, since it's a bit overcast today, it feels like a good day for a leisurely bike ride, maybe as far as Cambridge with some knitting packed into my bike kit. (It's surprisingly pleasurable to pull over in a scenic spot to work a few rows of garter stitch!) I don't want to save it till tomorrow because we're supposed to get some stormy weather. Maybe dinner out tonight with the husband ... yes, sounds like a good day.

Speaking of which, here's what a good man I have. Recently, packages have been arriving in the mail addressed to him, which I don't open. That was a cardinal rule in our home growing up, you never open someone else's mail, so I don't do it even if I know what's inside is for the house or something he's ordered for me. So when he comes home, he opens these packages and leaves the contents on my work table. To wit:

Some girls like flowers and jewelry ... I like marking pens and rulers.

This was everything from the last week. He had overheard me mumble something about not having good marking tools for the dark fabric I was using as a mockup, so he took it and ran with it. {{{}}} Of course, we have an unwritten agreement that whenever he needs something sewn, whether it's bathing trunks, a wallet prototype, or a pair of pants that need rehemming, that I'll do the work. But really, I think it's time for me to get going on the tailored dress shirt I promised him for a birthday present something like five years ago. :-/