Semi-conscious

You know that feeling when you're hovering right on the edge of having a bad cold, but haven't quite made the jump? So you're all achy and tired and blah but not actually sick? Annoying, isn't it? That's what I have today. Mink is greatly unsympathetic. Pull it together, he says. You're not actually unwell. Get off the couch. And I respond by pointing out that he spends most of the day asleep and he really can't criticise me for taking it easy. To which he replies that he is thinking Deep Philosophical Thoughts while dozing and will one day write a book about all these thoughts that will quite possibly change the world and so his long hours of lying down are actually very productive. Bollocks, I say to that. Anyway, we are both on the couch today. I am working and Mink is thinking Deep Thoughts. I did actually get quite a lot done this morning - headed out to the Coffee Bean and worked there with the grackles looking on (did you know that a group of grackles is called a plague? That's not very nice). I am currently splicing the new shape of the book together so that I can see its outlines before I start rewriting and adding pages. I'm going to get this finished today, and then start the rewrites tomorrow morning. With a lot of coffee.

Last night I was fortunate enough to meet two lovely Austin writers - Sarah Bird and Mary Helen Specht, both awe-inspiringly talented ladies. It's so good to meet with some other writers here - talking shop with non-writers eventually bores them comatose, whereas we can happily ramble on about writing for hours and hours aided by nothing but ridiculously delicious and intimidatingly expensive wine. Well, the wine isn't really necessary, but it does help. I'm looking forward to getting to know these two better, and to reading their work - and they told me about the Texas Book Festival coming up in a couple of months, which is very exciting! I am particularly thrilled that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is going to be here, as I love her books. We also share the same Dutch editor, which is a great honour.

Right, back to Mink and the couch.