The book is done* and the plague hath descended
If you’ve been hanging around here at all in the last few weeks, you’ll know I had a book manuscript due on Halloween. Well…
It’s done!*
*Except for one chapter that will be late because the original author bailed.
**And the permissions issue for a figure that is requiring a last-minute edit to another chapter
***And any changes the publisher will request.
****And the marketing and promotion.
But, yeah, it’s done! Woo hoo!
I have a bit more news and the usual batch of memes, but first: Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Grab a treat, have a seat, and let’s get to it.
After dodging the plague for almost three years, it’s finally descended upon us. My son tested positive for COVID on Sunday. He’s OK. Miserable, but OK. Long-Suffering Husband and I have had mild respiratory symptoms and a lot of fatigue all week (him more than me). Both of us tested negative (home test) earlier in the week, but the CDC says to wait 5 days post-exposure to test, so we’re getting tested this afternoon. Fortunately for us, we’ve both received the bivalent booster, me about a month ago and him about 3 weeks ago. Will be interesting to see if we test positive or have managed to fight it off.
The biggest bummer (besides our son being sick): we’d planned to attend the Arizona Authors Association annual awards banquet tomorrow. We go every year, and my poem is a finalist this year. But we aren’t going to risk giving anyone COVID, so we’ll stay home tomorrow. I think I’ll cope with the disappointment by eating an entire bag of mini-Hershey bars. Seems like a healthy form of self-care.
And yes, the day our son tested positive, Long-Suffering Husband stood outside his door and yelled, “Bring out your dead!”
Would you expect anything less from our family?
I didn’t sleep well last night, because it was cold, but I couldn’t wake up enough to get out of bed and fetch an extra blanket or turn on the heat.
How cold is it, you ask?
38 degrees F.
I’ve had to put on actual pants and a shirt with sleeves.
The horror.
Oh, yeah–and socks.
Fair warning: I plan to gloat about the weather all winter. After enduring a Tucson summer, I’ve earned that privilege.
Memes, memes memes
No more weather memes this week–I promise.
Substitute mini Hershey bars and this one is spot on.
Also spot on. You want me to leave the house after 8 PM? Nope. Not gonna happen.
I’ve actually been thinking about that lately. My best friend’s mom was maybe in her early 40s when I was a teenager. I thought she looked so old.
Arizona loves its roundabouts. And no, our drivers can’t drive in a straight line. Then again, roundabouts force us to slow down and spend more time enjoying our beautiful winter days 🙂
Since we’re talking about driving:
Seriously.
Been using curbside pickup all week. Can confirm.
And finally:
*starts plotting new short story*
That’s it for me this week! How’s life in your corner of the world?
28 Comments
rawsonjl
Aw, hope you are all feeling better real soon! Yipee for finishing the book.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! Feeling mostly normal now–yay!
Writing Sparkle
Congrats on making your Halloween deadline. I finished my edits, completed a read-through, and now I am having it read to me.
My favourite Halloween candy is Kisses. They are the molasses chewy candies. The boys didn’t collect any this year on their trick-or-treating adventures. It seems to be the year of the chocolate bar.
Janet Alcorn
Congratulations on your progress!
Kisses here are little lumps of Hershey’s milk chocolate. Love ’em. My kid is too old to go trick or treating, so we have to buy our own Halloween candy. Such a bummer 🙂
Gary A Wilson
Hi Janet –
Welcome to the ranks of the covinated. I’m pretty sure everyone alive in another 18 months will have had it – whether they notice is a whole nother matter.
Here we hate the cursed round-abouts as just another tool of city government oppression. I, on the other hand, save my deepest hatred for Tupperware lids – actually, I pretty much hate the containers too. Neither of them can ever be found with their partner nor can they tolerate being used to warm up anything with tomatoe sauce.
Congrats on putting that book to rest – sorta.
The more I learn about “PUBLISHING” the more I think it might be best avoided.
Life should not be this difficult.
Janet Alcorn
Publishing can be a pain, but the work-related publishing I do is pretty straightforward (a lot of work, but straightforward). The fiction world is, well… interesting. I haven’t published a novel (yet), but I hear stories.
I’m still un-covinated, at least technically. Still testing negative, and now I’m feeling mostly back to normal. I think being vaccinated just a few weeks ago was lucky timing.
Anne Fraser @theplatinumline.blog
Congratulations on finishing your book.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! It’s a huge relief.
Jennifer Jones
Congratulations on getting the book done Janet. I’m in awe of anyone who can write a book. Sorry to hear you’re family have been visited by the dreaded covid. We’re expecting another wave here soon.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! This one’s an edited book, so I didn’t write the whole thing, but editing other people is almost harder.
Marsha
You didn’t lose your sense of humor in the process, Janet! Great post! Congratulations, and I’m sorry your son has Covid. I haven’t had it, but had other stuff last year, so I earned my pass on Covid. Better to give up the awards ceremony, though. I still have some tupperwear from the 1970s – my canister set. You can tell by the mustard color the date of purchase! I still love it, but it sits in a closet where no one sees it! 🙂
Janet Alcorn
Ooh, I remember the mustard-colored Tupperware cannisters! I still see them at estate sales sometimes. I don’t think I have any more actual Tupperware, but I have a bunch of the knock-offs you can buy at grocery stores.
If I ever lose my sense of humor, assume I’m dead.
Marsha
lol You are NOT going to lose it Janet, just keep breathing! 🙂
leannelc
Glad to hear the book is running to schedule – loved the memes (drivers are much the same here in Australia – roundabouts are such a challenge to most of them!) Sorry to hear that covid is attacking your family – we’ve managed to avoid it so far, but both my adult kids and their families caught it earlier in the year – just a bad cold for a couple of days and then back to normal for them fortunately.
Janet Alcorn
Long-Suffering Husband and I appear to have dodged COVID yet again–still testing negative and starting to feel better. Our son is on the mend too and very ready to come out of quarantine.
trent
Yeah, so I am still getting ready for a night out at 9 PM… only these days, “night out” means unconscious, like sleeping, instead of partying like it did when I was in school. With those early bedtimes, I’m still waiting for that healthy and wealthy part. I doubt if the “wise” will ever show up, so I stopped waiting for it.
Glad the book is done, despite all of the *’s.
I caught Covid about a month after I had a booster. It was very mild (little more than a scratch throat). I took two tests early and both were negative. A week later, after all of the other’s in our party had tested positive, I tried again, and sure enough, positive. I hope your son is better son and that it doesn’t hit you or your LS husband too hard. And, yeah, with the “bring out your dead” he does sound like a good match for you.
I hope you have a good weekend despite have the plague or whatever it is.
Janet Alcorn
We appear to have escaped the plague. Still testing negative, and now we’re feeling better too. I think our recent boosters may have been a factor. Still weird that we both felt so lousy–immune response, maybe?
My idea of a night out is the same. Out cold. I fell asleep at about 9:30 last night, which is pathetic even by my standards. And yeah, the whole healthy, wealthy, and wise thing is total false advertising. Though I guess being a wiseass is kinda like being wise, right? I mean, it has wise right there in the name 🙂
Maria
I hope everyone in your family is feeling well soon!
Congratulation on finishing the book editing! Deadlines is a good sort of evil in my world, adding a little pressure to get things done..I’ve been writing a final report for a class I’m taking this week. I doubt that I had been getting up at 4am to write every day if it wasn’t for that deadline next Friday.
Have a wonderful new week!
Janet Alcorn
Thanks–we’re all feeling better now.
Good luck with the report! And yes, deadlines are a necessary motivator. I’m always amazed at how productive I can be when I’m staring down an oncoming deadline.
Kathleen Howell
Woohoo! Congrats on crossing the finish line! I too have been celebrating the milestones that need to be wrapped up this year. Hope your son feels better soon and that you and your hubs dodge the bullet. We had covid early on before the jabby jab was available and luckily it was very, very mild. I’d had colds that were 10x worse. Crazy how it affects everyone so differently. And 38F is FREEZING for AZ! Wow!
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! And glad you have some milestones to celebrate too. So far we’ve dodged the COVID bullet, and our son is feeling better and ready to be sprung from isolation. Poor kid has been pretty bored and lonely.
Natalie
Thank you for your weekend coffee share. I hope everyone in your family is feeling much better soon. Hurrah for finishing the book editing. Have a great week ahead!
Janet Alcorn
Thanks!
Elizabeth Seckman
My mother-in-law has also never gotten Covid. You guys might have been the last three. I made it through so many outbreaks, I was getting pretty doggoned sassy about being fully immune. Then my work gave us a week off from work during a spike and I took that opportunity to hole up and finish a book. My husband brought it home from work and infected me. I’d already powered through probably twenty contact tracings while I was out and about at homeless shelters, food giveaways, and what not. But it’s the week at home the little jerk germ got me.
I hope you all do well and are over it soon! Enjoy the weather and the bragging. You earned it.
Janet Alcorn
How weird. I’ve made it through several exposures too, apparently including this one, as I got better and tested negative throughout. I know it’ll get me eventually, but I’m going to hold onto my COVID v-card as long as I can.
Thanks for the good wishes!
Elizabeth Seckman
(And congrats on the book!)
Julie
I work with high school and college students, I am sure they think I am “old.” I am only in my mid-thirties so I may be as old as some of their parents.
Janet Alcorn
I’ve heard it said that “old” = “15 years older than I am.” That rings true for me. I remember thinking 30 was old. Now I look at pictures of myself on my 40th birthday and wish I looked that young.