Edgy Mama

I’m always banging up my feet. I have nice feet, attractive feet even, when the pedi is new as above, but close up they are scarred and abused, and not by high heels. Possibly because I’m so tough on my feet, I wear only comfy shoes, and only wear the ankle breakers for high holy days, i.e., cocktail parties, weddings, and the like.

A friend tells me that foot abuse is a quality of Aries, my astrological sign. I guess I’m so in my head that I have no idea where my feet are most of the time. This week, for example, I have ripped off most of a baby toenail (no clue how), stubbed two toes (curb at Bele Chere), and ripped two long bloody holes in one heel (bottom of a metal door). And let me tell you, few things hurt worse than stepping on a Lego at the bottom of the stairs. When you’re running for the phone.

So tomorrow I’m off for my pre-beach pedi, and once again I’ll have to tell Andy, the one person who truly seems to care about my feet, to go easy on the baby toe and that I can’t fully submerge my right foot in the bath because of the bloody holes. He’ll tsk and ask me how he’s supposed to paint half a toenail. Then he’ll scrub the dead skin of my soles while I alternately wince and giggle. Then, magically, he’ll make my beaten-up toes look pretty. At least until I chip the polish or stub another toe.

Do you have any body parts that you regularly, inadvertantly abuse? And you know I want you to keep your commentary above the waist and below the thighs.

Street preacher tension, originally uploaded by edgygrrrl.

I think this is my best shot from Bele Chere 2007.

This street preacher is wearing a board that reads “Turn from Sin.”

Despite heckling from the crowd, he shouted out his righteous-minded, bigoted drivel. The Jesus-looking dude stood serenely next to him for a long while, clearly protesting but passively–Gandhi-ish.

Then the preacher said something that got to Jesus dude. This shot captures the moment his serenity broke.

I wish I knew what Jesus dude said to the preacher. The street preacher ignored him, as he did everyone else who confronted or questioned him, including the lesbian who tried to hug him and told him she loved him.

Wolfman snags a seat, originally uploaded by edgygrrrl.

This dude actually climbed up on a lamp post to get a wolf’s eye view of Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band on Saturday at Bele Chere. The band drew the biggest crowd I saw at the street fest, although I must admit that I did more people watching than band watching. Also, today I was there with the kidlings which meant watching $ drip through my fingers as I paid for their quick bursts of joy on the cheesy over-priced kid rides.

Anyone hear some good music at the fest? Or anywhere else?

For those of you who aren’t Ashevillians, this is Bele Chere weekend here. Bele Chere touts itself as the biggest annual street festival in the Southeast. This year they predict around 375,000 people will visit. There are five or six stages with both local and national musical acts performing half of Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday. Last night one of the acts was the Gin Blossoms.
There are arts and crafts booths galore, beer tents, food offerings, marketing competitions (courtesy of the radio stations, of course), an Urban Challenge modeled on the Survivor television series, a kids’ area, Air Dog performances, and this year, the Budweiser Clydesdale Horses will strut through town. It’s all good drunken fun. Except when it’s not.

I wandered through town for about an hour yesterday afternoon and got a teensy taste of Bele Chere.

Love this guy’s bike setup and the decor!

This couple just stood there, dressed funny, and people put $ into their basket.

Air dog! Damn Ingles with their huge trucks all over the place (background).

The local microbrew tent. I’ll be nearby tonight.

I’ve been writing for work. Sometimes I make the crazy mistake of thinking I can produce two well-researched, well-written business profiles in two part-time working days. I did it, but I’m concerned about the double “well” part. Guess that’s why I have an editor (thanks, K, for putting up with me!). Which brings me to J.K. Rowling.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the magical world that Rowling has created and sustained and expanded on over 1000s of pages. That said, while reading the fourth book, I started asking the question: “Where the heck is her editor?” I asked again during the the fifth and sixth novels. Especially the fifth, which, in my opinion, gets bogged down, and dare I say it, close to dull, in the middle. How much of Sirius Black’s family history do we really need to know?

My guess is that once Rowling got really, really famous and really, really rich, someone said: “Oh, she’s a great writer. We don’t need to edit her. Let her write 800 or more pages, 150 of which could be cut, because, well, the book will sell anyway. Oh, and the longer the book, the higher the asking price.”

And Rowling, who is a good writer with a GREAT imagination, and who, because she toiled for months and months over every paragraph she wrote, probably thought: “Great. I don’t have to cut anything. I can leave all my backstory, flights of fancy, and random character development in the novel.”

I know this opinion may seem blasphemous to some of you who love every detail of Rowlings’ world. But in my humble writers’ opinion, EVERYONE needs an editor. I run everything I write for publication through E-spouse and at least one other writer/editor friend before sending it to my “real” editor. Even then, errors sometimes get through. And in a novel of over 700 pages, a couple typos are to be expected (I’ve found two so far. Anyone else?). But a bit of cutting here and there could smooth the flow of the novels, particularly those hefty in the middle ones.

That said, I do think Number Seven is the best written book of the series. One of the great covenants that Rowling has made with her readers is that she assumes we’re on the journey with her. Well, perhaps a bit behind her since she probably finished writing Number Seven about a year ago. But I love that in this novel, she doesn’t waste too much time explaining, she dives right in (although there is quite a bit of scene setting in the first two chapters before we get to rocking chapter three).

I also think it’s remarkable how many adults love her books. I had a ten-minute conversation about Number Seven with an 11-year-old boy yesterday. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a conversation that long with an 11-year-old boy. At least where the boy actually wanted to talk to me.

So, some of this can get us started on the non-spoiler convo. I was seduced by the lovely Di into drinking beers at Usual Suspects last night, so I’m not quite finished yet (page 608). Next week, when more folks have finished Number Seven, we can have the spoiler convo. Dive in!

And you?

I’ll have some scintillating no-spoiler commentary on the novel later today or tomorrow.

Happy Wodin’s day!

Thrilled, originally uploaded by edgygrrrl.

This is the daughter of a good friend who is also a faithful reader of my bloggie and a supportive fan of my fiction. C was literally squealing as she opened “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” When I left the book release party, it was 1:00 a.m. and she was 104 pages in.

Take a close look at her right hand. Is it my imagination, or is there some magical strangeness going on?

I’m on page 284 as of this afternoon. You?

Fortune telling, originally uploaded by edgygrrrl.

Outside Accent on Books in Ashvegas minutes before “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released at midnight last.

“You will be very sleepy,” said the prescient fortune teller to the teenage girl.

The neighbor’s dog woke me up at 11:40 last night. I was irritated and went to put the dog in their house (they were out), but I realized that it was a sign. A sign that I should throw some clothes on and run down to the neighborhood book store and buy a copy of Rowling’s new book.

Today I am very sleepy.

A mom and her kids look in awe at the last installment of J.K. Rowling’s series of Harry Potter books. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” went on sale at midnight, and hundreds of Ashvegas residents filled bookstores to snap up their copy and begin reading. This family bought their copy of the book at Books-a-Million.

I’m too tired to go stand in line at midnight tonight, but I’ll hit the 10:00 a.m. Potter par-tay at Accent on Books tomorrow, with the fam in tow.

Here are my predictions. These are not spoilers. I don’t yet have the novel, and although I can’t wait to start reading it, the truth is that I won’t have time to read the entire 742 pages in the space of a couple of days, and thus, the ending will prolly be spoiled for me.

But for the record, here are my predictions of the outcome of the novel.

1. Harry won’t die. Killing him off doesn’t end the possibility of future resurrection, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle discovered when he tried to do away with Sherlock and Watson.

2. Voldemort will be vanquished, finally, by Harry, with help from Snape, double agent extraordinaire, and by far the most interesting character in the series. Snape, however, will be killed in the final battle with Voldy.

What are your predictions?