Hello, Gorgeous!

I’ve talked openly -- and I dare say, bravely -- about my personal struggle with frizzy hair. 

Mostly this soul-baring has occurred on Twitter, where I regularly converse with several other women who share my Tragically Frizzy Hair Syndrome. We discuss the near constant bad days and exult in those rare, good days when frizz does not dominate our lives.

The degree and severity of my frizz is dictated by weather conditions, which, of course I have no control over. Really, the perfect place for me to live, seeing as I have this problem, would be the polar ice caps. Either of them would do. 

Hot, humid Washington, D.C., however, is no place for people like me, and yet here I am. I’m serious when I say that if I’d lived in the 19^th century, without aid of a hair dryer and heaps of hair care products, I’d have been sent off to a work house or a nunnery or an asylum for people who share my incurable hair condition. And if I had somehow managed to marry, I’d eventually have been shut away like that crazy wife in the attic in Rebecca. 

So, yes, my hair is a source of continuing hilarity to my husband, who finds my desperate attempts to de-frizz myself laughable and endearing, like when a dog has peanut butter in its mouth. 

But today! Today, good people! My fortunes will turn and become smoother, sleeker, and more manageable. I'm sure of it! 

I’m going to get that miracle keratin treatment thing. It costs waaaaay more than I’ve EVER spent on my hair, but I decided that if it works, it will be worth the money and time and might just change the course of my life in much the same way that Tony Stark’s atomic heart has allowed him to rake in a billion dollars at the box office.

Sorry, folks, you’ll see no freak show exhibits here, but I can show you an approximation of me in my natural frizzy state. Here you go.

I’m way too chicken to take a before picture, but I’ll certainly post an after one. And I’ll let you know if I’ve keratinized in vain. Stay tuned!

OK, now all that being said, the post title does NOT in fact refer to my hair. I want to direct you to a contest over at artist/author Kate Jarvik Birch’s blog. Last year, I won this very contest, and Kate made me a new banner for my blog, which has now been incorporated into my brand-spanking new author website!

I’ll have more to say about my transition to the new site very soon. In the mean time, go enter Kate’s contest because she’s so super talented, and you will be a lucky person if she creates some original art work to embellish your online presence.

And, listen, if you don’t win, perhaps you can console yourself that at least you don’t have Tragically Frizzy Hair Syndrome. Unless you do. In which case, I feel your pain, sister. I really do.

Emotional Investment: CANNOT DO

Guys.

This writing thing, it’s my whole life and all, but, man, it does get in the way of watching some awesome television.

I’ve now had a bunch of friends tells me, “OMYGODINHEAVENABOVE you must watch Sherlock! You bloody well must!”

These are folks who I know share my taste in movies and TV, so I do not doubt the awesomeness at all, but I just … not right now. I find that when I’m deep in the middle of a first draft, I’m so emotionally spent by day’s end, I cannot invest any time or energy in getting up to speed on a new show and can hardly keep up with the ones I do follow.

PLUS. There’s the betrayal thing. You know what I’m talking about. 

Let’s take for example, that freaking Downtown Abbey Season 3 finale. At the end of the episode, I stared at the screen for a moment, with this expression of ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME?!  Then I slapped my thighs and said to no one in particular, “Alrighty then, that’s the end of me watching that show.”

Writing first drafts drains me utterly. I feel like I'm doing push-ups all day while listening to audio transcripts from war crime tribunals. With opera as a soundtrack. The ups! The downs! The torment! The heavy lifting!  I just cannot invest in any new fandom right now. Maybe I’ll play catch up over the summer, go on a TV bender, and finally be able to stop avoiding all spoilers, but for the moment, it’s all cooking shows and re-reading familiar books. I need some comfort after thrashing the keys all day.

Is there anything you avoid while you’re drafting?