Target Lust

Once a week, I take myself on an Artist’s Date, an idea borrowed from Julia Cameron’s books. I can go anywhere I want, but I have to go alone. It’s been more than two weeks since I’ve been anywhere alone except the park and the supermarket. So today, I checked out the new Target.

The store was shiny and bright. I saw about a thousand things I’ve never seen before. I tried to imagine the heroine from my story, Annie, wearing a lime green t-shirt or a jacket with ruffled sleeves. I imagined myself in the black dress with the chiffon shirt. Where would I wear it? Maybe, I could put it on during the day and wear it around the house? I found solar powered LED christmas lights, just what I need for a back yard project I’ve dreamed up. 

The clerks were helpful. They weren’t destroyed yet by working in the same old place, day-in and day-out. They seemed happy to be in a new store where the fixtures weren’t broken and shelves were stocked for the first time. 

In this depressed economy, in my depressed budgetary state, I got a big case of Target Lust. It’s a condition where I can’t shake all the promises of material happiness out of my head, although I know better. I keep imagining what I might do with an empty red shopping cart. 

Time to get back to work on my book.


Ready, Set, Revise

I finished the read through today. The entire copy is marked up in pink ink. Some of the notes are random. “What was I thinking?” or “Who wrote this?” Some are specific. “Shouldn’t the dog be in this scene?” If I die before I finish, the notes will make no sense to anyone, so I guess I have to live through it and finish the damn thing.

Tonight, I bundled the manuscript into packets of 10 pages each, stapled in the top left hand corner, and wrote a number on each packet. We’ll see how it goes from here. I know myself. If I bite off too much, I’ll give up. The plan is to work on one packet a day. I can’t go back. I can’t go forward. 

I don’t have any cute stories to tell today. I didn’t get out much. Bear with me, I may have more days like this.


I Voted Today

Bacon and I voted today. It was the first day of early voting in Texas. We voted at 9:00 a.m. and didn’t have to wait in line at all. Afterward, we went for breakfast at a local taco stand. We overheard this conversation going on in the booth behind us:

“You know that Colin Powell only endorsed Barack Obama ’cause he wants his old job back.”

“Yeah, isn’t Secretary of State third in line after the President and the Vice President die?”

“I think so. You know, everyone jumps on the wagon when the press says so-and-so is going to win. That’s what Colin Powell is doing.”

This was taking place between a young Asian guy, and two older Hispanic men. I wanted so badly to turn around and explain the Presidential Succession Act of 1947.

It’s taking longer to get the reading done than I thought it would. I’m good for about fifty pages a day. I have at least one more day before I’m really rewriting.


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