29 October 2001

I have some advice for my fellow online journalers who want to get mail from their readers.

Get something wrong.

In my case, it was the spelling of the Traveling Wilburys. And people I didn't know existed wrote to me--very nicely, I might add, and with helpful information--to tell me about it. It's kind of cool, actually. And I would never have guessed how many people I know listen to the Wilburys, or which ones.

Of course, I have the Wilbury Twist back in my head: "Put your hands on your head. Put your foot in the air. Then you hop around the room, In your underwear. Ain't never been nothin' quite like this. Come on, baby, it's the Wilbury Twist. Put your other foot up. Fall on your ass. Get back up. Put your teeth in a glass. Ain't never been nothin' quite like this...."

So thanks for the information--and thanks, David (I did know you existed, yes) for offering to tape me a copy of Vol. I. All will be well with me and the Wilburys, bye and bye.

I've got a new theme song, and it's not the Wilbury Twist (more's the pity). We were out for dinner Saturday night, and it came on: "Missed the Saturday dance. Heard they crowded the floor. Couldn't bear it without you. Don't get around much any more." We made up new, M'ris-appropriate lyrics: "Thought I'd visit the club, but my ribs got too sore....."

Well! I just got an e-mail from the editor of a new pro magazine asking for edits on "The Handmade's Tale," so that's very cool. I'll tell you-all which one it is if I actually sell the piece, but the edits are very, very small and very, very reasonable. Whee! We like small, reasonable edits. So I'm going to do those this morning before I even get in the shower. Why not? It's not like I'm on anyone's schedule but my own.

I decided to go to church yesterday morning. It was Reformation Sunday, so it was very, very important to me to go. But it was a nearly unmitigated debacle, religiously and physically. Blah. So now I'm trying to make social arrangements for the week that don't involve traveling more than a few minutes in the car. "Don't get around much any more...." I hadn't thought that having friends scattered around the Bay Area was too big a deal, but all of a sudden, it makes a difference.