I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
Captain's Log, Stardate 04.29.2008 Okay, confession time: I have a black thumb. Don’t believe me? Here’s what’s left of the cyclamen that Captain Caffeine gave me for my birthday. I have come to realize that the only plants I can’t kill are the ones that I don’t even bother to try to keep alive. For example, my lavender is flourishing. Although considering how hard it is to kill lavender, maybe that’s not a good example. After all, lavender can grow from just tossing some cuttings on the ground, because you can plant the stems and they’ll root. Anyway, my gladiolas correction: bearded irises (thanks, Ausjenny!) are flourishing this year. Why? I have no clue. They are my “happy accident” plants. Here is the key to my keeping plants alive—I can’t have been given them, bought them, or planted them. I didn’t plant the gladiolas—they were growing in the yard when we bought the house, and I could tell they weren’t weeds, so I told Captain Caffeine not to mow it down. I watered it when ...