Hey, hi. How you doing? I guess you could call this a life update. There were auditions this weekend for the short film that I'm making called "Surprise," and it's just amazing how much talent there is in this area. Acting talent, writing talent, filming talent, you name it, it's there. Anyway, I posed a question at some point on Substack, I guess. I did it on Patreon, too, I think. About what is it that you would like me to provide?
What are you looking for? What sort of things do you feel you need to know more about in general? Do you want more bonus content for my podcast? Do you want me to provide advice? I've got decades of experience at this point with writing and with dealing with the whole publishing world and dealing now with the filmmaking world, which are very interesting and different. But anyway, be that as it may.
My life is not especially interesting when you come right down to it. A writer's life can be a fairly mundane thing on a day-to-day basis, but it is important to get out and actually be with people now and then, because this is a very lonely profession if you let it be.
But I guess my point is that there’s nothing special about my life particularly. I’m just a person who likes to write and who likes to tell stories and wants to tell a story that people want to hear or see or whatever. And that’s pretty much the size of it. We have a cat. We love our cat. My husband is currently agonizing over the fact that we’re going to have to leave our cat alone for a bit, but we’ll have somebody come visit.
People are taking care of our place. We are going to be fine. The cat will be fine. Everything will be fine, to the extent it can be. I actually ... when it comes to my life. I just happened to dig this old thing up. Oh, my God. I remember buying this thinking, “This is going to be hilarious.” And it is, actually. The Modern Girl’s Guide to Life. This is the kind of thing they used to publish before the internet came along and told us how to live, so to speak. Yeah. The contents. I’ll just read you the table of contents because they’re fun.
1. The Only Thing You Should Ever Fake … Being a Domestic Goddess
2. Your Cheat Sheet for Fabulous Entertaining
3. Mod Girl Etiquette
Mod Girl. Boy. Talk about ‘60s influence. The Mods, the Rockers. Mod. Mod was something I heard all the time when I was a kid. The Mod Squad. That was a show. Mod. Back then, things that were mod were in, were cool, were groovy. All these words were things I heard when I was a kid. Okay? I was a kid. I was not a teenager. I was not one of them. The ones who were partying it up on campus and taking a stand against the Vietnam War and all of that stuff. Okay. I won’t go there.
Home Chic Home
Yes, of course. Because you’re the one who has to take care of it.
5. Looking and Feeling Fabulous
I feel great. Yeah, there we go.
6. Bond, Jane Bond
I wonder what that chapter’s about.
7. Work It, Girl
8. Modern Girl Seduction Tricks
Woo.
9. Savvy Survival Skills
Literally, I am reading to you from the table of contents of this thing. It would be utterly hilarious to go through this chapter by chapter to tell you how a modern girl is supposed to live. There, you see. It’s all there. All the things you ever wanted. The yoga thing, the whole Lotus position thing. The whole everything is on here. Oh, my goodness, this must have come out in the ‘80s. I noticed the Apple finally, she said. Okay. Oh, look at all these gadgets. What was I thinking? It was the ‘80s and they were pretending it was the ‘60s?
Is that it? Is that what was going on here? The Mod Girl Survival Kit. That’s what it’s called, the Mod Girl Survival Kit. So I don’t know, man. Jane Buckingham. Wow. What a piece of work. Oh, and of course, a Prada bag, because if this is from the ‘80s. Yeah. You can’t be too rich or too thin. That’s an expression from the ‘80s. You can never be too rich or too thin. And lunch is for wimps. Very 80s. In ‘60s packaging. My, how far we had come and how far we have come. And yet I keep seeing the same stereotypes over and over and over and over …
Oh, well, that’s my life. Hope yours is going well. Really. Take care and I will be seeing you. Oh, and yeah, I’m in the midst of going over the copyediting in the novel that’s going to be coming out hopefully in May. Past Imperfect is the name. It’s the third Erica Jensen novel. And I’m all the way up to page 66. An hour into it. I’m up to page 66. So 66 down, 200 and whatever pages to go. That’s it then. I’ll be seeing you. Take care. Be seeing you.
Back again sooner than you expected, probably. Yeah, just checked the copyright date on this thing. 2004. What was I saying about things that change, but still somehow remain the same? Okay, that’s it then. Be seeing you!
PS: And speaking of blasts from the past Currently playing! :)
Seems I’ve taken a north turn at Gibraltar right turn at Albuquerque. :)
PPS: I honestly did not see this before I wrote this. :)
Have the rules not changed again? :)
I've been so busy not giving a damn, I've never worried all that much about mid-life. The fact that I'm alive is enough.
PPPS: Hey! Wanna get even more depressed? lolololol
