So I spent a week in sick bay. Got some good fiction writing done between coughing attacks. Maybe traveling country roads with a fictional father and son was easier than dealing with a very real temperature and aching body. Maybe I’ll read those pages in a few weeks and ask “what was I thinking” then remember that I wasn’t really thinking very much.

Fortunately I don’t get hauled under by wandering viral sicknesses very often because I am a restless patient. With three unread books waiting for quiet time, I paged through magazines and played computer games and listened to music. Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich was carried from room to room then in the car to and from Door County.  I reread the first twenty pages a few times and look forward to starting over soon and losing myself to her storytelling.

The news of Helen Gurley Brown’s passing almost made me purchase the latest Cosmopolitan, but I’m of a different generation than its readers. My magazine shopping as a young woman was an odd collection of Cosmo, Ms., Good Housekeeping, Time, Sports Illustrated, and Fortune. You could say I was not defined by gender. You could think I was unfocused. In reality I like good writing and interesting editors. It is a good thing today that magazines are so expensive or we would be filling our recycling bin at an alarming rate with the number of newspapers and magazines that could be coming to our house.

No excuses this week. After I clear another layer of stuff off my desk, make sure my calendar is up to date and the bills are paid, I will get back to my daily routine.