Notes From the Sick Bed

Ramblings from the near side of a fever dream

There’s a new place for viewing sunsets in my town, and I’m digging it. Also, skate park. 😊 Photo by author.

Hey there.

This time last week, I was wondering how I’d write to you for Wednesday, considering I’d be on vacation in Pennsylvania from Tuesday through Friday.

Well, for better or worse, that question has shifted to, “How can I possibly write anything coherent when I feel like this?” No more Pennsylvania, no more vacation—just making it to the living room has been a challenge. I’m sure I’ll feel better in a day or two, but for now it’s all a blur of Advil and Gatorade and lots and lots of streaming.

So, today’s note will be a mishmash of lots of different kinds of stuff. First up: An unexpected source of comfort.

What’s Exciting Me?

Of course this is gonna be about the book.

The interior layout is almost done. What’s interior layout? You ask. For a paperback (or hardcover) book, it is how the inside pages are set up. It includes any cute images you use as scene breaks or chapter headers, as well as the copyright page, acknowledgements, etc. It was done, I think, according to the person who was laying it out, but there was just one detail driving me crazy. So I sent it back and hopefully he doesn’t get sick of me and change his mind about working with me.

But my important people have reminded me that it is right for me to want this Very Important Thing that I’ve spent years of my life working on to be just as I want it to be. And I am paying for the service. I want to be happy with it.

Ok, so there’s that. It has to be done before I can get a printed proof.

But so does the cover! And I’m expecting preliminary design ideas from the cover designer any day now. This might be the most exciting part of it all. But also the most stressful.

What’s Entertaining Me?

Oh, so much. I haven’t been doing much reading, but I did finish The Handmaid’s Tale and I have feelings about it:

I also watched the entire final season of Dead to Me. I laughed, I cried, I snorted, and I sobbed. Woo. I’m glad I was only half-conscious for that beautiful last episode, otherwise I would have been inconsolable.

And then there’s 1899, which I started yesterday. I didn’t think I’d like it. I’m still not sure I do. They do something really interesting with the filming where all the actors seem to be speaking different languages but they are dubbed in English. I don’t like that part, because the translations seem melodramatic and not quite right. But the story is interesting. I think it would be considered a paranormal thriller (though I’m probably not one to ask about genre, even of a project with which I am intimately familiar) about a ship that goes missing and then another ship from the same company that finds it. I’m fascinated enough to want to know what’s going on. Right now I’d summarize it as Lost, but on a boat. Hopefully the eventual ending is more satisfying.

What’s Enlightening Me?

This article my husband sent me about how (at least Billboard Hot 100) music has changed over the last 65 or so years. Two items of note: The key change, which was a staple of most hit songs in the past, is absent from most of today’s popular tunes; also, the keys that predominated the hits of yore, which were easiest for composition on piano and guitar, are no more popular today than any other. Read the article if you’re a music fan like me! I was suitably enlightened once I finally sat down to read it.

Parting Thought

This doesn’t fit anywhere else, but it needs to be said: the best time to find out one of your household members (exactly who is anyone’s guess) has smeared lavender oil all over your inhaler is decidedly not when you are fumbling around for it in the dark and holding it up to your face for a deep inhale. The lesson here being… I don’t know, take stock of the medical device before using it, I guess? Just in case you’re ever in a similar situation.

Alright, I hope this has been even halfway coherent. I’ll be back next week with something a little more inspired, and I’ll leave you with this genius idea in case you, like my parents, are starting baking season next week.

Take care, and if you’re celebrating Thanksgiving this week, I hope you have a happy one.