As I was walking home from yoga class with my best friend last night (did I mention that she moved to town — literally down the street from me, and it puts a smile on my face every day to think that?), clutching our fruit smoothies (a post-yoga class tradition of ours) while simultaneously wearing a fleece jacket, it occurred to me that glorious DC summer is over and we’ve hit that time of the year — even more glorious DC autumn — that will all too soon give way to miserable winter.
I am not a fan of winter. And it lasts forever here. Grrrr…. thinking about how much I hate winter in DC makes me wonder how I ever survived four years in Connecticut. Anyway, right now the weather is overcast and I have to spend the afternoon outside with the monkeys (still preferable to DC winters) and I’m really looking forward to enjoying the remainder of fall. Pretty sure when I get back from Florida it’s already going to have started getting icky…
Oh, and hey, congratulations to Scott Westerfeld, who is on the NYT Bestselling list THREE TIMES this week. Go Scott! (I’m waiting to read Extras until this revision thing dies down.)
So I’m at that inevitable stage of working on other projects where I get all these glorious ideas for new projects that appeal to me so much more than, say, doing revisions. Of course, I’m also at that stage where rearranging my closet is more appealing to me than revisions. It’s part of the process, I’ve found. I’m not alone in this. I remember attending a writing conference back in high school and listening to an author talk about how she tricked herself out of that stage and forced herself to finish writing the book at hand. She promised herself she could work on the other project next. I’ve tried that, with mixed results. I think it’s because usually, when I’m tricking myself into something, I can see right through me.
Bitchslapping myself works a lot better, in my experience.
Hey, check it out — I got curious about that author and what she’s doing now, and here is her website. Sally Keehn was one of the first authors I ever met. her new book sounds adorable.
In personal news, I got my hair cut yesterday. The Great Diana Grows Her Hair Out Experiment is at an end, thank goodness. It’s weird. I had long long LONG hair for practically my whole life, but when I cut it all off at 23, it was like I realized that I was actually not a long hair kind of person. I feel so much more comfortable when my hair is not long. Despite all the cool things I can do with long hair (I know more kinds of braids and twists and inverted herringbones and other hairdos that sound more like gymnastic routines than you can imagine), I was actually a short haired person inside, all along, just waiting to come out and rock a lot less hair. Plus, what I save on brushes and barrettes…
And I guess it turns out that my hair doesn’t grow very quickly, either, since it can’t seem to get much past my shoulders anymore. It didn’t when I was living in Australia and it didn’t all this year. (see picture from the post from the other day.) So now it’s short again, la la la. I’m considering hacking even more off after the wedding, seeing if I’m actually a pixie cut person in secret.
October 18th, 2007 at 10:40 am
I definitely think of you as a short hair person! You rock the short cut like a star!!
When I think of Connecticut winters, I think of white snow and crisp cold air. When I think of DC winters, I think of gray slush and stale cold air.
I’m not a fan of winter either and wonder how I survived a year in northern Sweden. 
Good luck getting your revisions done!!
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October 18th, 2007 at 11:46 am
I’m also at that stage where rearranging my closet is more appealing to me than revisions
Too funny! Unfortunately, the best advice I can give comes from my friend Diana Peterfreund, who is always preaching the virtues of stick-to-it-iveness.
Yes, I think you are definitely a short-haired person. At least at this stage of your life (successful novelist, etc.) But you probably had to go through your long-haired college phase to get there. Pixie cut? Well, why not? You’ll never know if you don’t try it out!
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October 18th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
You look fantastic with short hair, Diana. Yay for your new cut.
Now go bitchslap yourself.
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October 18th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
My hair grows like a friggin’ weed! The upside is I never have to worry about a bad haircut taking 6 months to grow out.
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October 19th, 2007 at 5:41 am
I like your hair short too. I keep looking at all the really cute short styles and thinking about cutting mine but then I chicken out.
You’ll get the the revisions done. It’s who you are. You might take a few days off but you’ll get back to it. You really don’t like to have loose ends hanging around.
The weather sounds great. It’s still hot in Florida. We had a couple of mornings of great weather and then it was back to hot and humid.
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October 19th, 2007 at 7:34 am
Living in FL, I do miss fall sometimes. But winter? Never. I grew up in PA, so I’ve done my time in the snow.
Best wishes on finishing those revisions!!
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October 19th, 2007 at 10:38 am
I definitely think of you as a short hair person, too. How short is it now?
I’m definitely a long-haired gal. the shortest I’ve ever gone was just below chin-length and I didn’t like it. Even shoulder-length is too short for me. LOL!
I love fall and am going to the Shenandoah Valley this weekend to see the gorgeous foliage. But all to soon winter will be upon us. Of course, DC winter isn’t that bad. It’s not like Northeast winter. Still, I could definitely do without…
I much prefer Arizona winter, where you can go hiking in shorts in January and swimming outside in February. I’ll take that any day.
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October 19th, 2007 at 10:43 am
My brother says he met you at a pub. Hope that went well.
I’m up to my neck on three projects — pitching novels to one IP, writing a series of interrelated articles for a second IP and checking the page proofs on a novel in a third IP (I have already used up one whole pack of those half-transparent Post-it Notes (TM) and am well into the second). All of these are due Monday, btw. As in on the editor’s desk first thing in the AM Monday. Yes, I have ideas for a half-dozen new projects singing their siren song. Even my day-job’s paperwork looks like fun.
On a related topic: my hair hasn’t changed length by more than an inch since my wife convinced me the bald-on-top-with-ponytail look created the impression I was desperately holding on to the sixties. Which I was, but I didn’t want it to be that obvious.
Glad I found your blog. (You really should be careful who you talk to in DC pubs….)
Please direct any complaints to: It only looks random.
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October 19th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
I have already used up one whole pack of those half-transparent Post-it Notes
Half transparent post-it notes??? Where have I been?! I thought I owned every color and size of sticky note on the planet!
*runs off to Staples*
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October 21st, 2007 at 4:21 pm
I LOVE short hair and I can totally relate to being a short hair person….. I last had “longish” hair in my teens and any time I attempt to grow it. the moment I have it cut short again I feel amazing!!!
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October 21st, 2007 at 7:18 pm
I alternate back and forth between long(for me) and short hair. Short seems to fit me better, but hair cut every three to five weeks doesn’t.
Hi Kevin! If I had known you were looking for Diana’s blog, I would have told you it was right here.
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October 23rd, 2007 at 10:12 pm
I started reading Extras today (during a hair cut, incidently) and so far I’m loving it. I was afraid I wouldn’t like it, since it’s not about Tally, but once again, Mr. Westerfeld sucked me in. Thanks for telling me (a while back now) that it was coming.
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