Before the surgery I checked in with an older woman who took me through a bunch of computer screens and paper work that I had already filled out but which needed to be confirmed again and again and again. “I clean up everyone else’s mess,” said the woman. She was 67 years old and she had no intention of quitting her job anytime soon because she loved it.

We got to talking about phones and she told me she grew up in a small town where everyone shared party lines on rotary phones, and you could tell who was getting called by the kind of ring. “And if the phone rang late in the night, everyone picked up,” she said, and then lowered her voice into a dramatic whisper. “Because you knew it was bad news.”

The surgery went as perfectly as it could, which is to say the surgeon took out the pin and the plates and an hour later I was awake again. He told me that it looked like the plate had been rubbing up against the nerve for quite some time, and, in fact, had caused a lot of permanent damage, which we always knew was a possibility. It’s a bit of a bummer. I don’t regret the surgery though. Even to feel a little bit better – I am definitely going to feel some improvement – is worth sitting on my ass for a week or so.

My mother has been here the past few days and has been taking care of me while simultaneously doing her day job with great efficiency. I admire her focus. I made her tell me stories about how I was a genius child, and these stories make me giddier than if a handsome man told me I was beautiful. Yesterday she made me chicken noodle soup for the first time ever, and I would go into greater detail about the experience, which was epic and dramatic and hilarious, only I think it warrants a separate essay entirely. (File under: Writing to look forward to in 2011.) Basically my mother is a complete original, and I was extremely grateful she was here.

This morning I talked to my agent who read my new book and he loved it. There was only one chapter he questioned, and it is definitely the one which sticks out, but it is also one of the best parts of the book. For now, it stays. I’ve got four things I’d like to do to make the book better. This is what I have written down:

Fix Rachelle
Write Emily’s future
Write Robin’s past
Richard + Betsy meet

Also, obviously, I’d like to do a basic line edit. I think this will take me until the end of December to complete, depending on when I can start sitting up for extending periods of time. And then, hopefully, we sell Book #4. After that, who knows?

I have to go lie down now. I have a terrible headache.

(11/10/10) | 1 Comment »