Snow anxiety. I think it’s difficult for people who aren’t in the U.S. northeast to understand the icy, slippery mess we’ve been dealing with. Giant ice-covered mountains of snowcrete stood at the bus stops and on crosswalk corners for days, unable to be removed because they were so packed and stuck together and heavy. Luis helped me each morning by coming with me to the bus stop and helping me get on without slipping. A nice lady at the bus stop also gave me a hand, which deserves mentioning. But the prospect of going out into this awful situation each day was giving me such anxiety. I wasn’t sleeping well, worried about the mess I’d have to penguin-walk through the next day, and I was having a hard time thinking about anything else.
I told my coworkers how I was feeling, and they were so nice and understanding. One of them even said I was brave for speaking up about it, because many of the others didn’t experience any of this crazy winter storm so they aren’t even thinking about how it could be affecting us.
Fortunately, the sun during the day helps melt things and it’s supposed to become warmer soon. Not soon enough, but soon.
I didn’t get mail at the office all last week.
SNOW UPDATE: The snow is still around and Luis still goes to the bus stop with me to help me get safely on the bus, but it’s not as dicy to walk around, at least. I received a bunch of mail at the office, so that’s good. I’m looking forward to not seeing these snow piles everywhere. He’s probably going to be coming to the bus with me every day this week and into next week, by the look of things. It is nice to have him keeping me company. I’m spoiled.
What’s next for Colbert. As you probably know, if you’ve been reading my site for a while, I’m a big fan of Stephen Colbert. Luis got me to really pay attention to him, so he’s a comedian we’ve been able to share. I’m sad that he is losing The Late Show soon—actually, we’re all losing it because CBS is completely cancelling the show, not just firing him (the dicks)—and I wonder what’s next for him. I’m sure he will not completely go away, but I wonder if he will continue doing political satire or if he’s ready for something else. He is an actor, after all. He could go to Broadway for a while. Write a book. Write a nonfiction treatise on J.R.R. Tolkien. Whatever he wants to do next, I am excited to consume it.
That came out weirdly. But you know what I mean. I want to watch it, read it, hear it, etc. Experience it.
Okay, moving on before this gets too silly. I have a more serious topic to discuss.
Rob Reiner & Catherine O’Hara. I started reading As You Wish, Cary Elwes’ memoir about making The Princess Bride. The forward was, fittingly, written by Rob Reiner. There’s so much of him in that book, and you can tell how much Cary Elwes and the others in the cast just loved him. I’m still very sad about what happened to him. I asked Luis for a copy of The Princess Bride for an anniversary present, since I really want to reread it. A lot of people have been quick to point out that Rob Reiner didn’t write that book. He’d be one of them, too. But he had a massive hand in the movie version, and it’s as wonderful and faithful to the story as it is because of him.
To add insult to my already injured heart, Catherine O’Hara passed away last week. I’ve been a fan of hers since Nightmare Before Christmas when I was little, without knowing who she was yet. She’s in so many things I love, including Christopher Guest movies and Schitt’s Creek. It still doesn’t entirely feel real. When I saw the news online, I shouted, “No!” at my screen.
And it struck me that poor Chris Guest lost two close friends within two months. 😢
Comfortable tenses. I’ve started writing an updated version of the Nerdfighter story that I’m still trying to get to a publishable novel form. The tense my brain hit the ground running* with is present, which I’ve enjoyed playing around with recently. I’ve noticed a lot of romance novels use present tense these days. It’s a tense that makes sense. Hopefully my brain won’t forget about it and start using past tense. That has happened before, and it creates all kinds of confusion when I’m editing.
A lot of writers stress about which tense to use. I think you should write in whichever way you’re comfortable with. And if you’re working on a draft, there’s nothing preventing you from changing your mind and changing tenses. It’s the same with point-of-view, though that can be even more annoying to edit. Finding all the “I”s and changing them to “he”s or whatever.
Write in a way that makes you feel comfortable and true to yourself. After all, cleaning it up is for the editing phase.
* I don’t recommend letting your brain hit the ground
Sara Mazariegos 