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What I'm writing in YEAR OF THE DOG

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 ...
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Clean plate syndrome

You know what’s freeing? Realizing that if I’m not liking what I’m eating, I don’t have to finish it.

I was eating leftovers yesterday and not really enjoying it (it was Minnesota wild rice soup, but I had added too much kale). I kept slogging through until it hit me, Duh, I don’t have to keep eating.

So I dumped the rest down the garbage disposal and refuse to feel guilty for all the starving children in Africa who wouldn’t have eaten my yucky soup, either.

I didn’t waste the calories on bad food.

I should have realized this earlier, because it’s like how I’ve been with my reading lately, I don’t have time to waste on a book that doesn’t interest me. There are lots of books that I ought to read, or that are well-written, but if the story doesn’t resonate with me for whatever reason, I don’t have to finish reading it!

How about you? Do you finish your food and your books?
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Madeleine Brylski said…
I haven't been finishing a lot of books I've been picking up, but maybe that just means I'm not very good at picking books. (Actually I just started Protection for Hire today, and I won't be putting that one down :D)

Madeleine
Fri Jun 15, 08:56:00 PM 2012
Camy Tang said…
I hope you enjoy Protection for Hire! There are a lot of books that I start reading because the story premise is great or the back cover blurb sounds fantastic or it's an author whose books I've liked before, but then I end up losing interest and putting the book down, so I don't think it's an issue of being able to pick books. :) Some of them just look more interesting than they end up being for me.
Sat Jun 16, 10:54:00 PM 2012
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