Overkill

My clothing, not to mention my body, may be far cleaner than necessary.

I've noticed a trend recently when it comes to cleaning products. Just about everything is new, improved, hard-working, tough, and I'm feeling a bit on the outside. I'm not sure if, as a kid, I had to change from school clothes to play clothes for the second half of each day, but I remember it. I'm just not sure if it's a real memory or comes from popular culture. At any rate, I *do* remember many, if not all, of my jeans having grass stains on the knees.

Like stubbed toes, grass stains are something I rarely get any more.

There used to be commercials for Lava soap, ads that showed burly men working in oil fields getting covered with grease and black filth. Lava soap, according to the ads, removed that and made the men acceptable for fine dining or, perhaps, lovemaking. For years I used Lava, marveling at its grit (pumice). Then, it occurred to me that I'd spent the majority of my working life in an office, not on oil drilling platforms. The worst I could expect was ink stains from careless replacements of printer ribbons. Ads for laundry detergent that was "powerful enough" to remove the stains shown, I realized, used as examples stains I rarely, if ever, receive.

It's been years since I've dumped a plate of spaghetti in my lap, if ever.

I'm a single adult. I don't get filthy, not often, and the mild perspiration and dust that settles on me could probably be as effectively cleaned with a rock and a stick in a rushing stream as with a new, high-powered detergent. I'd think, in this day and age, that there'd be a very inexpensive detergent sufficient for the mild effort my clothes and I need.

Years ago, when Marilyn Chambers was popular, I washed my clothes in Ivory Snow. I continued that until a few years ago when they, too, advanced to being a detergent. All I needed was soap, plain old soap, but now both my clothes and I are forced to endure the rigors of heavy-duty cleaners that are far more efficient than necessary.


I'm editing two novels at once, and loving it!

For TRE, although it's been "completed," it isn't. My brisk read through of it showed me that I seem unable to write anything without mentioning that some character is looking at it and seeing it. That is, my writing is weighed down with many phrases such as "Brad turned and saw Dick straightening some papers" or "Brad looked at Dick, who nodded."

One thing I'm attempting to do is see if I can just write "Dick straightened some papers" or "Dick nodded." Yes, that will remove Brad's "action," but will it, really? I think if it's clear he's doing the seeing, if the scene is presented from his POV, it should be as obvious that he's the one seeing it as it is that the interior thoughts are his. This may be one of the more worthwhile things I've noticed in my writing.

I suppose I could defend it as "part of my style," but it may just be bad writing.

BTS is kind of pleasant to rewrite. I was afraid going in that I'd need to pare down all of my fabricated trophy-assembling passages, but Donavan assured me he saw nothing wrong with them. That's one vote for, and one against, and I'm leaving them in. Oh, sure, I'm making them slightly shorter, trimming them as it were, but for right now I'm just seeing if I can rewrite the damn thing and include all that fancy writing stuff I left out in November. Now I have time to craft metaphors, to pick words carefully, and I have to admit I'm pleased to be back in Sid and Dina's world.