Remodeling a house is a surefire excuse not to work on your novel. I know this, have known it ever since I remodeled a very neglected little cottage in Hermosa Beach twenty-four years ago. And then spent almost three years on our house in Santa Monica, and just two years ago restored one desperate little Tudor cabin in Lake Arrowhead, and – heaven help me – I’m doing it again. I’ve moved across the street in Lake Arrowhead into a house that seduced me and R. with the above view.

The fact that there was no wall to the bathroom from the master bedroom didn’t faze me – how hard is it to get a wall built? But then of course the ugly mirrored lockers in the bathroom had to go, and did we really want to take showers in a claw foot tub in front of a big window? So now I’m into major bathroom remodel and this is just one room in the house. The other rooms are equally strange if not even uglier.

So instead of what my character is about to do in the novel-that-has-gone-on-forever, I’m thinking of when Kenny can get those mirrored lockers out, build a closet and get the wall up, I need to buy light fixtures for Russell to install, get a bid on the plumbing from John and on the painting from Alphonso, etc. etc. When I tell people this is the last time I ever fix up a house they just roll their eyes.

I am however taking notes.