7. The Franchise Affair– Josephine Tey
Now that I know what a cozy mystery is, I get the name. It’s not all doilies and grandmothers, but when it’s a cozy, it’s…well, it’s a cozy read. You feel a bit snuggly when things all work out.

Enjoyed this book quite a bit. There were a few moments where I thought—Editor! Redundancies!—but that is just getting nit-pick-y. This book was good, and I enjoyed it. End of story.

I have a stack of library books I should probably pay attention to. Top one is the one about Columbine. It’s really good, but I can’t quite bring myself to sit down and finish it. It’s been ten years since Columbine, but when I’m reading it, it doesn’t seem that long ago. Also, I work on a college campus, and that sort of thing is a real concern. A university campus in downtown Chicago recently had a gun scare. Nothing like a gun scare on a campus to make you consider the sitting-duck nature of your particular campus office. They never found the guy, and no one was ever threatened or hurt. I guess that’s a happy ending.

Talked at length to one of my writing buds last night. James, who recently joined the ranks of Roosevelt ALUMNI. (Go, Lakers! Now that you have a team!)

Was really nice to talk writing with someone still in the same boat I’m in. (That’s the unpublished boat.) Have been hanging out a great deal with Mary Anne, another writing friend, but one with all sorts of credentials. She makes me think lots of things are possible for me, which is nice. But they haven’t happened yet, so it’s nice to have someone like James. He thinks all sorts of things are possible for me, too, but when good things happen, he’s as excited about them as though they happened to him, too. And then we SQUEE together like a couple of ten-year-olds. Wish he didn’t live in Iowa.

Weekend plans: read, write, beat the laundry back down to submission. Try to figure out what to get my husband for our anniversary (soon) and his birthday (soon + three days). Write a new bio and find a good picture of myself to submit to a magazine from which I just received an acceptance. More details about that at a later date.

Also, I’m going on vacation in a few weeks, and I think I might start thinking about that. What sorts of things does one wear on a cruise? Everything I know about cruises I learned from watching The Love Boat. And I don’t have any muu-muus.