Things finally clicked today, after three-and-a-half days of staring at Alice, wondering if we would ever be able to fix our somewhat broken book proposal. Dear, darling Alice, who so has patiently written funny things and e-mailed them to me from across the room so I could chuckle at them, and petted Cookie and Googled vague medical symptoms while waiting for me to e-mail something, ANYTHING, back to her; waited for me to finally pull my weight and hold up my end of the bargain, to keep down my dinner, to stay on the see-saw and Not Jump The Shark.

It's not easy to start working with someone when you're not quite sure how you're going to bandage things up. It's hard to trust the process. But it's less hard when you trust your writing partner, when you know she's going to hang in there until you've created something that's bigger than the sum of its parts.

And the next thing you know you're surrounded by books about war and ninjas, eating jalapeno cheese puffs, and full of good ideas.

Here are some more shoes:

Durangos bought at the late, great Pure Gold vintage store on State Street. Super comfortable, super durable, kind of weirdly modern. I can't remember the last time I wore them, though.