I couldn't stand looking at K.'s bookshelf anymore, so I went in and reshelved everything for her last night. Is it intrusive to shelve a 14-year-old's books for her? Probably. I didn't go digging under her bed for copies of things I suspected were there, and I didn't crack any of the (no lie) 9 journals she had on the shelves, so I think I stayed on the side of at least, uhm... Organized Neutral? Would that be the D&D alignment of librarian-folk?

Anyway, this also led to me stealing back about 14 of my books, which seems okay to me, because I'm not an infinite-renewal type lender. (Let's call it a "non-confrontational recall," if you will.) She can check them out again if she needs to. Plus, there were at least four of my books I didn't find. And she's "lost" enough of my books that I think we're going to have a "one has to come in before anymore can come out" rule from now on. (They're not lost, she says; she claims they're somewhere at her mother's house. I've already bought replacement copies for three of them, and sometimes now, in lieu of lending her something, I'll buy it for her. Like the first Beka Cooper book.)

If K. is a benchmark of normalcy for teen slovenliness (and I'm not saying she is, but I'm guessing), then I was indeed scarily meticulous about my books. (Just my books. The chaos of papers and clothes and bits of craft projects seems like my room from around that age, too.) My books were not only shelved upright like books are supposed to be--which is not the case with K.'s shelves--but they were pretty much like mine are now. Fiction: alpha by author's last name. Non-fiction: rough sort by subject, historical eras or geographical areas go chronologically, otherwise by author's last name/publisher (field guides, in particular, get shelved by publisher) /etc.

Anyway, I had to do some shifting on the non-mmpb shelves to make the recalls fit, and some books I had loaned mrgeddylee came home after an extended sojourn, and all in all, I realized I had some beat-up dust jackets in a quartet of faves from junior high. I've debated discarding the jackets at least three times now, but couldn't quite bring myself to, no matter how bad they looked.

This time I managed it. But only because I watch loads of Clean Sweep and know how to do these things. If you're having trouble parting with a material possession, take a picture of it.

So, I did:



(The pics click through to individual shots of the jackets, too, because I'm just that attached.)

I took half a day off work to come home and write. Naturally, I've written very little. But the theory is that I won't be totally zombie-zonked when I finally get going. Likewise, I have some good motivation:



Balsamic vinegar chocolates from the local chocolatier (the really local one, about five miles from here). I ate one already when I cut the MS 7,500 words, and I had another last night (after the picture) for the second 7,500 words cut. I have another 5,985 to cut, and in practicality, I think it's going to end up being another 10k I cut in my HUGE TRIMMINGS effort; then I'll start layering the stuff I stripped out back in, but in smaller doses, beef up a few scenes, and then take one, serious, HARD look at the whole thing (as I have already done with the first six chapters).

And then, we shall see what we shall see.

A million-day rejection from IGMS, but the million days don't count... I queried on a hold request from September, and found out that the rejection was sent sometime in December.

Anyway, the criticism along with the compliment (smoothly written) was that it was a smidge slow. And... I've known that. It's loooong, and I don't think that there's 8k worth of story in this one. I may try my hand at a rewrite soon, because I think I can condense it down to 6k with ease. I bet then it will sell. *ruminates semi-morosely*

In completely other news, I've joined BookMooch and am having a grand time listing books and getting books and getting ready to send books... For those things that sell for $.01 used on Amazon.com, this strikes me as a much better way to get/give said books. I wish there were a similar option for magazines. I'm swimming in some old F&SF's from my husband, and I really don't know what to do with them. Ebay, maybe? The intention is not to make money, but I don't want to just recycle them. Nor do I want them cluttering up my house anymore.

It is time for this bedroom to take responsibility and clean itself.

(stern looks)

Drat, that didn't work.