Bling bling

Blogging, like many things, becomes more difficult to start up again the longer you put it off.

It doesn't help that I have been, uh, busy.

Let's see, after counting down on my paper chain for months, I finally boarded the double-decker British Airways flight to London. What an amazing city, there isn't much to say about it that hasn't been eloquently said already (such as in the brick of a book London the Biography that I'm treading through) but I would live there in a second. Well, as I need to overthink and plan everything, maybe not in a second, but at least after some preparation and the sudden appearance of a million bucks or so. I put a few pics on Photobucket, http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v230/picsforfriends/Across%20the%20Pond , and some on Facebook (which the newsfeed probably told you about). Oh yeah, seeing Brian after nine months was pretty awesome too.

I must say that the last day there was pretty spectacular, as Brian proposed in Regents Park (I really struggle with how to word this sort of thing... "proposed" seems a bit formal, "popped-the-question" seems a bit too casual and "asked for my hand" seems a bit both romance-novel-y and creepy) after I unknowingly blabbered on about ducks and monkeys for a bit. Woo hoo! It's wonderful and surreal at the same time, in the sense that I can't quite believe that this whole "getting married" thing is finally here. Of course, now I have a stack of books and a spreadsheet and the rallying cry of most girls that I will not, cannot, become a Bridezilla. So we'll see.

I think one thing that I've gained from all this planning stuff is that it's best to keep criticism of other people's nuptials to a minimum. Of course I love to provide running commentary for a good bridal reality show every now and then, and there's something to be said about what you're putting yourself up for if you invite cameras into your life, but I guess it's best to keep the snarkiness on low. I realize now that many decisions are made with lots of effort and a fair amount of compromise. Some may be borne out of a long-held desire to have something, others due to budgetary reasons, and others for the sake of picking battles. Just enjoy the fact that you get to party (or watch a party) without any of the preplanning.

Oh yeah, I work too. I've stepped in to a number of projects that were in-progress before I started, and I'm having to deal with authors who don't quite trust me or are a bit taken back when I edit their stuff. I guess it's understandable, because they weren't with me from the beginning. But when you have to tell them to rewrite large portions of their chapters, they are understandably less-than-thrilled to be responding to me. I also had to do two rejections of manuscripts that we had taken to the peer-review stage (not far enough that we had a contract, but far enough that I had made a connection with the authors) and that wasn't fun. A busy fall and spring of travel ahead, and maybe I'll fit a wedding in there too. Yes, we'll see.