Really back (and other news)

I'm really starting to almost feel human again, which is exciting. I'm still a bit coughy and sniffly, but that could be allergies rather than lingering flu symptoms. I don't have quite the same level of utter exhaustion. And apparently they guessed wrong for this year's flu shot, and the big strain going around isn't prevented by the shot, so I don't feel quite so bad about not having gotten around to getting the shot. It wouldn't have helped.

Now I'm trying to get back to work, and I have a massive backlog of e-mail to read and deal with. It's enough to make me whimper and want to crawl back in bed. I have book ideas, so today I plan to devote a little time to playing with them and see if they're actually viable.

Meanwhile, I've learned that Damsel Under Stress is in its fourth printing. I hadn't known about the second. So it's not as big a failure as I'd been led to believe, and there was a huge sales spike in the first two books last fall, for whatever reason. Funny, the books started selling better after I stopped the heavy promotional work, though I guess the spike could have come as a result of the prior promo work. My publisher is already getting requests from bookstores for me to do signings for the new book. It's kind of cool for it to work that way, with the stores asking for me instead of the other way around. Supposedly, subsequent printings were to have the matte covers like the first two books instead of the glossy cover that was done in error, but I haven't heard yet if they did that (and it's possible that they'd already printed more covers than books and are still using the original covers). I haven't seen a matte cover, but I also haven't been looking very hard.

In other news, I found myself watching Pride and Prejudice on Masterpiece Theater last night, in spite of having it on DVD. It's still rather captivating, all these years later. I remember when it was on A&E, and I taped the late-night showings, then marathoned the whole thing one weekend. I was glad I didn't have to wait for the next installment. Ah, back in the good old days when A&E showed good stuff. I've been considering joining Netflix just to get access to all those old A&E and Masterpiece Theater miniseries that the local video stores don't have.

And now I think I must make some tea and get to work. I was feeling self-indulgent last week (as I tend to do when I'm sick) and bought the Tetley's British Blend tea bags instead of the plain kind I usually get for run-of-the-mill tea. Oh my, but that is seriously good stuff. It's almost as good as a really good loose tea or the stuff my dad got me in Sri Lanka (somehow, he's not interested in going back to do follow-up relief work just to restock my tea). It's even almost as good as the tea I had in England. I'd thought maybe the water had something to do with it because even my Twinings didn't taste as good at home, but this stuff comes pretty close. I may have a new addiction, and I'd be willing to give up some other indulgence to buy this on a regular basis, even if it is more expensive. It's also strong enough to get two cups per tea bag, so I may find myself a small two-cup teapot.