For those keeping score at home, I have 24 reviews to edit in the next two and a half days: eight each for F&SF&H, mystery, and thriller. That's doable, as long as Josh doesn't mind me working a little late today and tomorrow. I forced myself to get nine hours of sleep this morning in preparation, and have given up on vegetarianism for the nonce; I need that steady protein energy.
I also have an article to finish tonight, website graphics to create before I leave on my trip to Portland this weekend, an interview and two reviews to write by the 23rd, and a magazine to lay out (including proofing several articles) and a third review to do by the 30th. After Labor Day, I'll be covering for a vacationing PW editor for a week and then attending a conference the second weekend of September, from which I expect to be assigned seven or eight (!) articles that will occupy the rest of the month; I guess that makes up for having to miss the End of Summer Party. The third weekend of September will be spent in Boston preparing for the Ig Nobel Awards, which happen in early October. I also have a book-related art project to complete by October 1st, and given the conference assignment, I may have to either bow out of that or do something considerably less complex than what I had originally envisioned. Then I go to London for a five-day "vacation" that, knowing me and Kathleen, will be as socially busy as my usual life is work-busy (though probably even more fun). Then I come home and collapse. If I'm doing anything between mid-October and Thanksgiving, don't tell me. I don't want to think about it right now.
Somewhere in there--ha!--I also want to write about Ratatouille and spin-off thoughts about the place of critics and criticism in today's consumer culture. Working title: "Pity the Poor Reviewer, Maligned By His Critics". We'll see if I ever get around to it. In the meantime, go see the movie! I don't remember the last time I saw a movie twice in the theater (er, other than The Rocky Horror Picture Show), but I'm glad I did with this one. It's really brilliant and wonderful. You'll love it. Go enjoy it while it's still on the big screen, where it deserves to be.
Right, back on my head. More of the usual educational bitching when I resurface.
