So, in a burst of unmerited good will, I took the Assistant and her small Child to the native gardens at The Point Defiance Zoo.  As I opened the gate to admit it, I told the four year old, "This is the part of the zoo where they let the tiger roam around free.  Let’s [...]

I kid around a lot on this journal, especially with Robin Hobb’s assistant.
But this, I think, is a serious matter.  If you are a published writer, a children’s book illustrator, a translator, a publisher of books, or the heir of a writer, this is something you should know about.  It’s all written out neatly in [...]

1.  This morning’s disruption is that she has abruptly decided that she wants to be a muppet.  Actually, looking at her, I can see that  this is what God intended for her all along, and that if she had moved to Sesame Street when she was twelve instead of growing up and going to college, [...]

I don’t look in the mirror much.  I never remember to do it before I dash out the door.  I stand in front of it to brush my teeth and hair but I don’t really look at myself.  When I do, I don’t at all look like the person I think I am.
Today, catching sight [...]

Things were crazy around here this last ten days.  Lots of frantic late night editing.    Then Robin discovered that someone has substituted the word ‘boobs’ for breast in her book.  And dragons don’t even have ‘boobs’. 
Things got so crazy that somehow the assistant’s hours were not faxed in on time.  Hm.  I wonder if she’ll [...]

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.  Lent will last for 40 days. During that time, I will abstain from meat on Fridays.  That’s not really much of a sacrifice for me.
But today was a day of fasting and abstinence.  That means two small meals and one regular meal, and nothing else to [...]

I’m in the office, late on a Sunday night, listening to Robin Hobb’s assistant’s favorite song.  Hm. I just keep trying and trying to grok her, but it may be hopeless.  I need to find some way to suggest to her that she can listen to this on headphones instead of blasting it through the [...]

I’ve been married to the man for close to forty years now.  Someday, I’ll sit down and figure out how many of those years we’ve actually spent in the same house.  Not that it would change anything. 
For a lot of those years, he didn’t even have a chest of drawers in the bedroom. Just [...]

That would be, of course, Bagheera.  She of the silky black coat, immense yellow eyes and even more immense appetite.
Bagheera belongs to Robin Hobb’s assistant.  Said assistant has recently decamped to Texas for a week or so, leaving her neglected, starving cat in my care.
Bagheera is obviously an underprivileged cat.  Last night she informed me [...]

 
Most of us are accustomed to the idea of recycling now, but I remember well the very first time my Dad was at my house and saw me sorting out the trash into glass, cans, paper and garbage. Then I began to rinse out the cans. He asked me what I was doing and when I explained [...]