January 17, 2009: In which I avoid things I should be doing ~

The Smithsonian has an exhibit of the man in the funny hat's truck and deals in honor of the Obama-mama-man's inauguration. I'm going to (maybe not so delicately) avoid any discussion of why I think this is tacky, but I belong to a peculiar American minority that feels conflicted about sanctifying pseudo-martyrs. And Johnnie B., you were such a dumb cluck (I have to say it). Anyway...cool picture though! I can definitely appreciate a nice black frock.

And for the 187th time (and I mean it). I don't hate Abraham Lincoln. We've certainly had many many many worse presidents.

I wanted to launch the good ship In Pursuance this spring, but right now I'm pretty overwhelmed with other things. If I were more organized I could juggle everything a lot better. But the more I try to organize, the more I can't seem to find anything that I need. I recently acquired Lloyd Lewis' Myths after Lincoln and William Lee Miller's Lincoln's Virtues (they followed me home!), so it's not like I've stopped thinking on the subject. If anything, I think I have a clearer angle on how I want to tell the story and I have a solid outline of the chronology. What I really need now is to get the "scholarship" part in order. And even though this is not really a story about Lincoln, I would be less than honest if I said I wasn't concerned about being fair (my biases overriding my common sense most of the time). So I want to be careful. My original intention was to avoid the issue of Lincoln & Booth altogether. They are not what the story is about. But part of me says it's absurd to think I can get away without addressing the issue. Even if it is in the Ford Theater greenroom over a game of poker. When I look at Kate Beaton's work, I think: my God, this doesn't have to be so complicated! So cross your fingers. I may get it together yet.

But today I don't have time for this. I've got an outline for a novel I'm trying to poke into some semblance of sense. read more