I know stuffing isn’t good for you, but it is my favorite holiday side. I even like the boxed king.

My daughter just got invited to something by Jen Affleck! We’re all playing 7 degrees of Secret Lives of Mormon Lives now.

Boss: you said you were supposed to take today off training, but that sounds like you didn’t? Me: Me: why you gotta call me out like this? Boss: because I don’t understand why you do things that cause you so much pain? Me: maybe I’ll take off tomorrow. Boss: it doesn’t sound like you will, tho

My boss: why do you run if it hurts? Me: the longer you do endurance sport, the more you see how many of the racers are crazy addicts Boss: I’ve never heard this before. Addiction, really? Me: Me: yes

Why are so many romance stories from decades past so cringe? But Jane Austen still works? Are we past the cringe phase? Was she just better?

Not in my bingo card today: My dentist sending me birthday greetings for my ex, whom apparently some part of their system does not understand we have been divorced for 5 years.

I didn’t get any writing done yesterday and today very minimal. I’m trying to remember that I am human and there are things that matter even more than writing. I had a joyous day yesterday and a kind of hellish one today. So it is, being human.

Ten years ago, I would have thought this photo looked perfectly normal. What’s wrong with it? Now it seems creepy and curly. Why are the women wearing weird clothes like that? Why do they look ugly on purpose? Why wear extra cardigans on top of already absurdly long clothing?

My kid asking me about Easter: so, where did Jesus’s body go? The tomb was empty and he was resurrected into a new body? But where did the old one go? Or, like, what happened to the dead parts? Did people really believe matter just disappeared?

New spring dress!

I got a book scam email today. Was feeling so left out of AI compliments and summary but now know that even authors low on the totem pole are going to be scammed! Warms my heart!

I’m trying to work on a book but I feel so discouraged. Editor feedback was so negative and I fear I cannot and do not want to fix the problems. Sigh.

I MAY have overdone it with a 10 mile run that my sports monitor says was worse than my 18 mile run from last week in terms of body strain. Will try to take the rest of the day easy.

Told guy on dating app I thought his photo looked like AI and that I was afraid he was a bot. He unmatched me. 🤷‍♀️

I signed up for all my triathlon races this year: all sprints because I’m still recovering. And old.

People, please stop using words you don’t understand in a weird attempt to sound smarter. The opposite happens.

No one has autism before. Yes. In my family, it was normal to refuse to eat any vegetables with texture. And to not allow the food to touch. Not autism. Nope.

My internet at home has been out since Sunday. This is annoying but perhaps good for me?

I finished! The Mother-Daughter Murder Club is ready to head to an editor at 74k!

New boss today: if marathons are too much running, have you considered triathlon? Me: Me: are you joking? Him: I’m serious. It could really work for you. Me: I have done over a hundred triathlons, and about twenty Ironmans. Him: are they better? Me: no

Just finished @elimccann.bsky.social book We’re Thankful for the Moisture and it was lovely! May need to buy some extra copies to pass around. Laughing helps a lot with the trauma, actually.

Sunday is often the only day I have to make a luxurious breakfast. Today: egg whites and Swiss cheese, sourdough toast with butter and homemade plum jam, strawberries and cantaloupe.

Watched The Swedish Connection and then started Nuremberg. It’s a theme for this week.

Had really lousy service at a restaurant today (among other things, server brought appetizers so late they were desserts—and cold). But I don’t complain now after the last time, the server got fired and I had to watch her leave, crying.

Got 40,000 steps in today. And no, not a marathon. 18 mile treadmill run (I like treadmills).

This might be finished. I made up the pattern, though, so not sure? Does it need another border row or two?

I want a T-shirt that reads My grandbaby’s other grandma is a librarian. Writer and librarian grandmas are a super power.

At work we were supposed to pick a favorite song and see if people could guess who it was. I picked Stronger by Kelly Clarkson. Easy guess for everyone.

One of my least favorite things: visual migraine that hits right when I’m starting a big edit.

I’m trying to figure out if I’ve learned any lessons as a writer about the limits of editing. If an editor hates your first draft, can it be fixed with a draft you still like yourself?

And . . . I have a messy first draft at 85k. Tomorrow I start editing said bad first draft to make a decent second draft.

My workplace keeps reiterating that there is no gambling allowed at work or in work devices. I am just so confused. Don’t we invest in the stock market?

This bad boy stole a cracker right out of grandbaby s hand and made him cry today, so he got sent to Outer Darkness for an hour. Then everyone was happy again.

I’m SO close to the end of this book! It is SO much better than the original, almost like it took a book for me to figure out how. Final chapter, about 3k words left. If you do it right, the last third of a book is easy.

Do I dare post longer ex-Mo/Mo content online? Still thinking about it. Consequences for imperfection for women online are pretty dire.

Dog pic of the new king of the house (in grandbaby’s bean bag chair)

So I think I figured out this week that the pain Id been describing as “upper glutes” is actually psoas pain. And that makes it easier to solve. Yay!

This weekend I: Ran a triathlon Had a 90 minute INTENSE massage Wrote 5k in WIP Went to a comedy show/dinner with kids Biked 26 miles extra Went on a hike with grandkid Went to movie with friend Made dinner for kids Am now on 3 week dog duty And am exhausted

Note to cars: do not pull right to park on the road in front of a cyclist with a flat tire going downhill on a race. Just. Do. Not.

I did not die. I did, however, have a tire flat and ride on it for 10 miles because it was faster than stopping. Finish time: 1:30. First in age group 56-59!

My triathlon racing son’s advice: Just swim in bike shorts only. Me: I don’t think this is an option for women tbh

Got to race start. It is 54.

Sunday I am taking my granddogs for three weeks while my daughter and husband are in Japan. Pray for me!

I have written 68k words on The Mother-Daughter Murder Club in the last four weeks and it is ALMOST done!!

I’m shivering at work because it’s summer now and I didn’t wear a sweater. Iykyk

I’ve marked people at my work I think of as fellow “refugees,” from artistic professions who have landed in the financial world out of desperation. And are very good at it anyway.

I was telling my kids how wild it seems now that my ex and I bought a house in 1994 with me on part-time adjunct salary and him on graduate student stipend.

I’ve heard some divorced people mourn the stories of children growing up shared with another. I don’t have that, but weirdly there are some family joke phrases I sometimes still miss.

The weather is so nice here in Utah I signed up to do my first tri of the year! On Saturday! Wish me luck!

Other female-coded authors—how many times have you had older male authors tell you they can’t meet with you one on one without a “chaperone.” Me: 2