I’d rather be working on my next novel!

I’m feeling a little guilty about sounding like a whiner. Oh, to heck with it, I AM whining. I know it. This sort of technology frustration deserves a good whine. I promise no more whining after this.

Today I’m doing some final edit checks on the TOASTED manuscript.  It’s a gray day outside and I’m also puppy-sitting.  So I’ll have plenty of upping and downing from manuscript to potty breaks with the little one.   I hope to get a long walk in too, to settle my brain.  And of course:  hockey game tonight!

 New York is drier, but overcast and foggy.  I walked down to the Empire State Building (which is right across the street from where the Lammy Awards Ceremony will be tomorrow night) and couldn’t see anywhere near the top.

I had a bagel with Nova lox for breakfast in Grand Central Station, so I feel like I’ve arrived.   Then I went straight to the New York Public Library, where I’d never been before.  They have many treasures, including a Declaration of Independence in Jefferson’s handwriting, and a  great collection of 20th century dime novels and comic books.  On the third floor, in the hall outside the great reading room, was a great timeline display of the gay rights movement, particularly focusing on Stonewall and the Liberation of Christopher Street.  Reading the weeklies, the fliers, and the letters from folks fighting the good fight in 1969 and 1970 was quite moving, especially in light of the horrible Supreme Court decision in California yesterday.   Topped the visit off with a visit to the Children’s Reading Room, where the original toys that inspired A. A. Milne to write Winnie the Pooh are housed.  That was a lovely surprise for me!

I also walked by the Episcopal Center, home base of the national church offices and checked out their little bookstore. 

Ate at Don Giovanni’s–great home-cooked Italian food, huge portions, relatively cheap.  It’s on 44th near 9th–one restaurant I always visit whenever I’m in NYC.

Walked up Broadway and down 5th in the evening–including time in the brand new Times Square pedestrian mall.  The city has put lawn chairs in the middle of the former street.  It’s a blast to sit an watch people and signs and traffic and everything.

Tomorrow will be fun!

I don’t really know what to expect, though I look forward to seeing my wonderful writing colleagues Karin Kallmaker and Ruth Perkinson again.  I met both last summer in Phoenix at the annual conference of the Golden Crown Literary Society’s annual conference.  (I am sorry I can’t attend that this year s well.  But in the future, I hope!)  I also look forward to meeting colleagues I’ve worked with electronically, but never met.  It will be fun.

I feel vindicated.  I’ve always been a 9-hour-minimum sleeper, at least, if I want to be alert and functional.  In college, I told people sleep was my Number One priority.  Then studying.  Then social life.  I was a real charmer then, as now!  Still, I stay healthy and mostly on top of things, even if I always felt guilty about being lazy.

But I just go my hands on a new book, Brain Rules:  12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina.  And it has a handy and fun website you can check out to get a taste for the book.

Anyhow, he explains that we need sleep time for our brains to process what we learned during the day.  “Sleep well, think well,” he says.  He says naps are a good thing!  Love him!  Can’t wait to read the book.

My new editor at Bella Books and I put the finishing touches on TOASTED and sent it off to production.  It’s on track for its August 15, 2009 release!

I’ll get the cover art up as soon as I have a copy (I haven’t seen it myself yet).  And I hope to post an excerpt soon.  Stay tuned.