Big Day In

I ended up changing my mind about going to the show and doing the big day out today, for reasons both practical and irrational. On the practical side, it's going to be hot today, really hot, and it would have involved a lot of walking and waiting outside. Plus, the priority was the location research, and due to various scheduling things, going to the show would have severely cut short the time I had to do research in the key location. And I've been working with my agent on some stuff to get The Book That Would Not Die (which now is about to be really born, so I guess it is "dead," but not in the usual sense, just in the sense that I'm through with it until an editor wants me to revise parts of it) ready to face the world, and for that I may need to be around the office today. Finally, it turns out there's an event downtown tomorrow that mirrors an event I've kind of planned for this book, so I can kill multiple research birds with one stone by going downtown for the event, then having plenty of free time for my main location research. On the irrational side, I suddenly had a bad combination of feeling overscheduled and feeling antsy. I've been going head-on all week, and I needed a day to catch my breath and collect my thoughts, but I also just didn't want to spend three hours sitting in a theater (as stiff as my legs are at the moment, I might not have been able to walk afterward).

On a slight tangent, word to the wise: no matter how much your muscles are aching, do not apply Ben-Gay right before bed. The menthol smell and the tingle will make you wide awake, even if you're tired. Actually, I'm not as sore as I was afraid I'd be, just a bit stiff. I'm thinking of hitting the swimming pool and hot tub today, and that should do the trick to really loosen me up, so by tomorrow I should be totally back to normal. And tonight maybe I can sleep.

I've discovered an odd little quirk with my library's reservation system: If you request a hold on a book that's on the shelf in the branch where you want to pick it up, nothing happens. This has happened to me twice, where I put a hold on, never get notified that they have it on hold for me, it's not on the hold shelf, and then when I go to the library, it's there on the usual shelf. I guess the result is the same if I can just check the book out, but the point of putting a hold on it is to make sure it's still there on the shelf when I get to the library. It's odd that I can request two books at the same time, one that's in-stock at my branch and one from another branch, and they'll call me to say the item I requested is in, usually about two days later, and they've managed to get a book all the way across town, but they haven't managed to walk over to the shelf, grab a book that's there, and then carry it twenty feet to the hold shelf. Yes, the book is there, so it's all the same, but there's nothing stopping anyone else from checking it out in the meantime, and I hate it when I check the online catalog, find that a book I want is there, and then go to the library that day, only to find out someone got to the book in the meantime.

I've also realized how few books I've bought this year (almost none other than at the library book sale). I think having a library two blocks away (that opened in the fall) has something to do with that. If I can walk two blocks to get immediate access to books, then that's far preferable to driving to a store to buy them. If it was a bookstore two blocks away and I had to drive to the library, then I imagine I'd buy a lot more books. So, note to the book industry: if you want to sell more books, open a bookstore within walking distance of me. Maybe we need more little neighborhood stores instead of a few superstores that are more scattered about.

Today's main work-related task: Start working on my "soundtrack" playlist for my next project and see what ideas that sparks. And maybe start answering e-mail.