A better day

No, I did not eat this much

You know the feeling you get from a really productive day? That was mine today, and I rejoice in it. I began by tackling some things that had been niggling in my mind, things I’d chewed on for days with no decision. So today I took definite action. I had a professional favor to ask from a fellow mystery writer, asked, explained, and got a favorable response. I determined to go ahead and keep my dental appointment tomorrow—my impression is that they keep you very safe and isolated, and I want to stop worrying about whether I should go or let my teeth could to rot and ruin—well, it wasn’t quite that bad, but still….

And there was a social gathering that weighed on my mind: I had issued the invitation but then I began to feel uncomfortable about it, and Jordan reinforced my discomfort. So I flat out cancelled it, and everybody understood. Finally, I worried a bit about my fat leg. Jordan looked at it last night after her several days away and pronounced it no less swollen and red in the lower part of the leg. So I emailed the doctor. I have heard nothing but am assuming that no news is good news.

Oh, and I nudged the graphic designer who is doing cover design for Saving Irene, my forthcoming mystery. Watch for a cover reveal in my blog and elsewhere in the next couple of days. I’m excited about it.

I may have mentioned that I’m to teach an online course in creating a fictional chef this fall, for a subdivision of Romance Writers of America. That, too, has been weighing on my mind. I am to have twelve “lectures”—about 600 words each. Today I roughed out the first two lectures—one introducing me, and one presenting the questions I thought a writer needs to ask him/herself before creating this chef. It was a lot of work, but I was pleased with it—except that I had earlier outlined the twelve lectures and today, in two lessons, I used up the first four topics. I may run out of material. Still, pulling all this material together has been fun for me, and it syncs beautifully with my first truly “culinary” mystery, coming in September. So tonight I am feeling productive, proud, and self-righteous.

Of course there’s always a cloud on the horizon. I tried to attend a Zoom meeting of a church book club discussing Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. I have not yet mastered Zoom, but I managed to log in. The group greeted me cordially—but the trouble was I couldn’t see me. They assured me they could. About halfway through I decided to log out and log back in—that worked, and now I could see me, except I was sideways. They all said I was sideways on their screens too, but my friend Renee, who was moderating, said it was okay because it made me distinctive. I’ve got to figure out how to do that.

Got my fried chicken craving satisfied today. My generous and bountiful neighbor, Prudence, emailed that her husband was going to pick up fried chicken from Drew’s Place and what did we want. My good friend Carol and I used to go to Buttons for lunch occasionally, just to have the good, bone-in fried chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans, which were, I’m sure, seasoned with fatback. But then Keith Hix, chef at Buttons, moved on. I blogged about this a few days ago when Christian, Jacob, and I had a pale imitation for dinner one night. When pandemic hit, Carol and I had already made a date to go to Drew’s Place, source of the best fried chicken on this side of Fort Worth. Of course, that had to be cancelled. So I was overjoyed today to munch—down to the bone—on a thigh and eat green beans. I have enough green beans to feed Coxie’s Army or, as I told Pru, her family of six. So generous, so good.

So, yeah, it’s been a good day. I hope yours has been too.