![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I took a little jaunt down to Cutler Park in Newton today, which is a nice protected wetland with carriage trails running through it. Here's a map of my ride — about 15 miles, with wrong turns. The ride down was pretty hilly, and took me through less-than-scenic parts of town, but the park itself was soothing (albeit not yet green, pretty muddy, and too close to 95). My route home was much more pleasant, past old burial grounds, the Mad Batter cupcakery (coming soon!), and cheerfully manicured homes. It also took me past this mysterious domed building, which I have become fascinated by. What is it? Why so cubical? Why the huge windows?? Why the cupola?!?
Thence to Lê's in Harvard Square for dinner with K., at which we discussed my antepenultimate chapter (she was not turned off by the audacious focus shift — I win!) and I got a lesson in rolling my own spring rolls: the bowl of hot water below the plate of stiff rice paper wrappers is not there to keep them warm, but for moistening the wrappers so they become soft and elastic. (Unmoistened, they are something like discs of acetate.) Slightly embarrassing to be informed of this by the waitress after eating a stiff, unmoistened spring roll, but once I figured it out the grilled shrimp, rice noodles, and mint were excellent, and it was a lot of fun wrapping my food in a stretchy skin.
At Diesel afterward, I read through my final chapter, which is better than I expected — I need to tack on an intro and rewrite half of one scene, but most of it is sound. It was a bit of a melancholy experience, knowing I'm going to set these characters and this world aside forever soon — if I ever write any kind of "sequel", it'll be set five centuries later (though I think K. wants me to write a backstory for the Creeper). Should have it done byAssumption Day Easter. And I've already got a title for the next book, a Nick Hornsby-style romp through the world of mixtapes and modern English: Word Up, Stratocaster!1
1 Note: Actual title may vary.
Thence to Lê's in Harvard Square for dinner with K., at which we discussed my antepenultimate chapter (she was not turned off by the audacious focus shift — I win!) and I got a lesson in rolling my own spring rolls: the bowl of hot water below the plate of stiff rice paper wrappers is not there to keep them warm, but for moistening the wrappers so they become soft and elastic. (Unmoistened, they are something like discs of acetate.) Slightly embarrassing to be informed of this by the waitress after eating a stiff, unmoistened spring roll, but once I figured it out the grilled shrimp, rice noodles, and mint were excellent, and it was a lot of fun wrapping my food in a stretchy skin.
At Diesel afterward, I read through my final chapter, which is better than I expected — I need to tack on an intro and rewrite half of one scene, but most of it is sound. It was a bit of a melancholy experience, knowing I'm going to set these characters and this world aside forever soon — if I ever write any kind of "sequel", it'll be set five centuries later (though I think K. wants me to write a backstory for the Creeper). Should have it done by
1 Note: Actual title may vary.
