This will be the shortest post I’ve written in a while, but I wanted to report back on the Thanksgiving plan I shared with you all last week, as well as let you know that you may not be seeing as many posts over the next few months.
First off, regarding Thanksgiving, I didn’t start on my Christmas cards or read as many books as I thought I would. Thanksgiving dinner was delicious as ever, but I had one nasty surprise related to our traditional gotta-have green bean casserole. While it was delicious, the home-canned beans I had purchased thinking they would make the dish even better than usual, even spectacular, turned out to be super stringy. Whoever canned them forgot the crucial step of removing the fibrous rib on each bean, something my family would stand around a big bowl doing every summer harvest. Practically every bean had a long string, some of which nearly choked Wendell.
It was annoying and even a little scary. I don’t recall ever before being afraid of green beans. Spitting out the strings and piling them on the side next to the turkey wasn’t all that festive. I compensated for that by squirting out so much non-dairy whipped cream that I could barely make out my pumpkin pie underneath. When I was a kid, I never would have gotten away with that.
Second, I may not be writing these posts every week for the next few months as I am singly focused on my next book. As a small teaser, I can reveal that I workshopped the book’s final chapter in a writing class about endings. When I asked the other participants if they had any suggestions for a title, One person blurted out: “Reality Can Be Shitty,” a direct quote from the book.
So I will stop for now so I can be true to my first sentence. I wish you and yours happy holidays. Whatever you do, enjoy your green bean casserole, but be careful with the strings!
