Scent Memories

It never fails -- anytime there's a big holiday, I will get something back from some editor or my agent. This time, it was copyedits on book 2 of the Fairy Tale series. I understand why that happens -- these people want to clear their desks of pending projects before the holidays. That just means that I get a project on my desk right at the holidays. At least this time I control the timeline and I don't have to deal with it until later if I don't want to. Too many times with editors I get the edits right before the holidays and the editor would like my revisions back right after. I haven't looked at these edits, but the editor said I didn't leave much for her to do, so I doubt it will be a lot of work, and I'm not really in detail-oriented mode right now, so I think I'll get on this after the holidays. My agent's office is closed now anyway, and I doubt they'd get right to formatting the book the moment the office reopens. Still, this means there's a good chance we could get book 2 out in the March timeframe. It depends on how long it takes Audible and if Suzy the narrator is booked up or free, since we like to get the electronic, print and audio versions all out at once.

Yesterday's "I can't focus my brain, so I'll do something else productive" project was sorting through and organizing my bathroom junk drawers. These are essentially horizontal medicine cabinets (as I don't have the vertical kind) that started out as places to store toiletries and makeup out of sight but that mutated to become catchall repositories while the toiletries and makeup sit on the counter. I ended up throwing out an entire shopping bag full of random stuff that had expired or evaporated. I still have an entire small Amazon box of skin-care products (lotion, soap, scrubs, bath gel, etc.) and a similar box full of hair-care products -- and that's just the sample/hotel sizes for the hair stuff. Then there's the drawer full of sample-sized toothpaste and dental floss, courtesy of my dentist. I will not need to buy any toiletries for the time being. One thing that I hope doesn't become useful is having sorted and organized my medicine drawer, so that if I come down with a cold or the flu, I won't have to scrounge through three drawers to find that one remaining capsule of Nyquil that might still be floating around in its blister pack. Everything is well-stocked and together, so if I need something, I can go right to it. This should prevent any illness for this winter (since I seem more likely to get sick when I'm out of tissues and cold medicine).

It seems the theme for this winter will be "spa day." I'll have lovely skin after using up all these lotions, and some of them smell nice, too. Speaking of smell, I also found a small bottle of the perfume I wore when I was in my last year or so of college and then right out of college. In college, I wore the drugstore knockoff version, but when I finished writing my first book, my mom bought me the real thing, and I guess it was a gift pack with this small vial as the bonus. It still smells the same, so it hasn't gone off (though it may be much stronger). It's not a bad smell, but it's so not me anymore. I wonder if it ever was me or if that was who I was trying to be. Or it may just be a product of its time. Just for nostalgia, I couldn't resist putting some on. And then an hour or so later I was scrubbing my wrists with rubbing alcohol and then unscented lotion. I guess some rubbed off on the sleeve of the sweater I was wearing because I can still smell it. Or else it was so strong that it's still slightly on my skin after the alcohol and lotion, a dance class, a shower, and a night's sleep. If it was that strong back in the day, I apologize to anyone I came within 20 feet of in the early 90s because I probably assaulted you with Giorgio Red. (Funny, I thought of it as a huge splurge then, but it seems to be available at Wal-Mart now.)

I barely wear perfume at all now because most of the time when I'm going out, it's for choir stuff, and they ask us not to wear perfume for rehearsal or performance because it can affect people's breathing, and I know that someone who usually sits behind me is particularly sensitive.

I really should force myself to go through my closet because I still have clothes from that era that are probably just as ill-suited to the person I am now, whether or not they still fit.