Well, dear readers, Muse Margaret got the final batch of pages, read them, and made me very happy with her report that she loved every word and the way the book ended and especially the last sentence, which really made me happy. I get very nervous when she’s loved everything she’s read and then I send a new batch, and I always think that maybe I’ve ruined everything in the last forty pages. So, until I get the call, I just fret, sweat, and hope I don’t regret. The good news is that if she’s loved it, I can hear it in her voice instantly. Again, she was very specific about what parts really got to her and anyone who’s ever written anything and has someone who you completely put your trust in has not a single note, you cannot imagine how gratifying it is. This was not a typical book for me, although I suppose everything I write has some me in it, but like GEE, it was new turf for me in terms of its plot and central conceit. Anyway, I breathed a sigh of relief. And now, I’ll do my first pass of proofing, then it goes to the real proofers for their proofing. I then sent Doug Haverty an email, outlining the general plot of the book, so he can start thinking about a cover. This one’s a bit tricky, but he’s usually very good about coming up with something that works. Prior to the call, I’d only gotten four and a half hours of sleep because I kept thinking about what I’d written for the ending. Once up, I answered e-mails, caught up on a few things, made sure we were on the right track for an upcoming recording session I’m producing in three weeks (not a project of mine but something for a friend who took this as a perk in the last Indiegogo campaign we did years ago), and then I began futzing and finessing. I pretty much was happy with all the dialogue I wrote, although I did have to rearrange some of it so it had a better flow and wasn’t confusing, and I broke up the longer dialogue sections with a line or two of prose and that really helped a lot. I added a few things here and there and deleted a few things. For the final chapter, I’d written it quickly and I didn’t love it, so I made quite a few additions and a lot of deletions, and it was much better. And the last paragraph, which I was so happy with when I wrote it, did not read well to me in the cold light of morning, so I rewrote it, keeping the exact point and flavor, but with better wording. Of course, the final line stayed as it was. Then I made a PDF and sent it to Muse Margaret. Then I had a Daughter’s Deli pastrami sandwich and puttered around the home environment, snoozed, and then got the call.

What a journey it’s been with Muse Margaret, with me on all my books from 2001 to right now, twenty-eight books. I don’t really know if I’d ever have written more than the Kritzer books were it not for her being my Muse. Every writer should have such a Muse. After the call, I watched another documentary I was never going to watch – the new one on Chevy Chase. The first time I ever heard his name was when my cousin Donnie, at a family dinner back in 1975, told me there was a guy who looked like me on a new show called Saturday Night Live. In fact, he thought it WAS me. I looked the guy up and while my nose is very different and I’m not as tall, he did look very much like me and I knew that it could be trouble because he was getting a lot of notoriety on the show. And indeed, that’s pretty much what happened. Had I had a successful series at any point, I might have had the career he was about to have. But it wasn’t meant to be and these things, as difficult as they are, happen for a reason, even if the reason sucks. It wasn’t that I didn’t work, I did work, until it all but dried up in the mid-1980s, but all that is covered in my first memoir. Mr. Chase is also five years older than I am. Interestingly, we’ve both aged in very much the same way – I have a little more hair in front than he has, and his weight has fluctuated as much as mine has. The documentary is kind to him – there are hundreds of stories of his bad behavior, exacerbated by two things I have never done – drugs and alcohol. Anyway, I watched it.

I ordered a little El Pollo Loco for a snack, but it was pretty vile. I also have been weirded out by the low volume that’s suddenly coming out of my monitor. This began happening whenever I did the last update, which is after I approved the new mixes on The Sherman Brothers Album. I was having to shove the volume all the way up and it was still medium level. But Google to the rescue and somehow on the last update the Mac Mini reset itself to default the the Mac Mini speakers rather than the Apple monitor speakers, which are fantastic. I switched it back and voila, all’s well that ends well. And here we are.

Today is another day of rest, and I may begin proofing and try to get halfway through the book. I’ll try to watch, listen, and relax later in the evening.

Tomorrow, I’ll continue proofing, I need to put some gas in the motor car, then I’ll go to the theater and do the pre-show speech and depending on the audience size and whether I know anyone, I’ll either stay or leave and I suspect it will be the latter. And then I have to do the speech on Saturday night and Sunday matinee. I’ll definitely see at least one of those performances.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a day of rest, proof, eat something fun, and then later, watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: I do not understand the popularity of El Pollo Loco, which is much inferior to the much-missed Koo Koo Roo. For those who’ve eaten El Pollo Loco, what is the appeal? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, so happy Muse Margaret was happy with the last batch of pages.