Mac deodorant, please

My friend F gave me her old Mac laptop out of the kindness of her heart. But a problem's crept in . . . well, into my nose and into my house. At first I thought it was the couch that stunk, and I made a note to tell J not to lie down on it after coming back from the gym. Then I leaned closer to the keyboard and got a whiff of powerful body odor. Serious body odor. Undiluted, no-holds-barred body odor. Not-washing-for-a-month body odor. I pictured F carrying the laptop underneath her arm to cafes, to bookstores, to her office; I pictured her huddled on her bed with it; I remembered something she'd once said about having hyperactive sweat glands.

I called J to freak out.

me: F is sweet, but, ah, there's B.O. all over the laptop! She said she'd written her book on it---I understand pouring blood, sweat, and tears into a project, but come on. Should I bring it to Tekserve? I can't stand being near it.

J: I'll look up some information for you. [Ten minutes later.] Okay---do you want the good news or the bad news first?

me: The bad news, please.

J: The bad news is that there's no easy solution to this issue. You can place dryer sheets on the keyboard when you close it. You can also replace the keyboard itself, which will cost between $100 to $200 (keyboard plus installation). But apparently the smell, however muted, will always be there.

me: Oh. And the good news?

J: It's actually common for a certain series of iBooks to have this smell, something to do with the adhesive used in the keyboard---so it's not your friend who'd stunk it up!

mac

My sister's initials.

The makeup I use.

What I'm switching to, through the generosity of a kind friend. Hopefully, I'll be up and running in the next two weeks and I can start writing in cafes again. Fingers crossed.

novel progress report

Word count: 378

Location: Borders

Soundtrack: Apparat, Things to be Frickled

Writing Snacks: chai tea, rice krispie marshmallow square.

Incidents of note: The cafe worker gave me an odd look as he cleared the table of my "distraction" magazines--The Advocate, Fangoria, World Literature Today, The Uncanny X-Men.

re-start

I had an incredible workshop last week with a great novel writing mentor. He got me to really examine the structure of my novel and to probe more deeply. He said I have a fantastic story but I really should start over. After a month of rest.

So I'm starting over. I'm sooo excited.

novel progress report

Word count: 361

Location: Golden Castle Diner

Soundtrack: Daniel Agust, Swallowed a Star; Ms. John Soda, Notes and the Like

Writing Snacks: Pancakes, bacon, sausage, Pepsi.

Incidents of note: A middle-aged man sat at the bar, in front of the video arcade, and tapped his finger on the touch screen, playing games for what seemed like hours.

Retraining the brain

The last few days I've been waking up at six a.m. for the office. Yesterday it was five a.m. So many huge projects on my desk, and no time to get through them all. It doesn't help that I'm easily distracted by little things, especially by the Internets and all the clothing and shoe sales that are going on right now. But this month I plan to spend mornings on the writing, to focus again, and retrain this ADD-addled brain of mine into using words to good effect. This morning's inspiration: um . . . it was good, but I've lost it. What a brain.

*

Oh wait, I found it again! (The inspiration, not my brain.)

novel progress report

Words (for this section): 619

Location: Golden Castle Diner

Soundtrack: Electric Birds, Gradations; Isan, Plans Drawn in Pencil; Matthew Dear, Asa Breed

Writing snacks: open-face tuna melt on rye, coleslaw, Pepsi

Incidents of note: Four male New Castle County police officers came in. They all ordered Diet Cokes.