Well, Daddy walked in, in time to pick up crying baby. How convenient.

See Jane crumple the page up in disgust and curl up in fetal position while she weeps in frustration. See Jane offer sacrifices to the powers that be. See Jane scream. Scream, Jane scream.

Hey, I know Jane!

And our B&N has Fiction, but they have all sorts of other distracting things, too, like the Bestseller shelf, and the New in Paperback shelf, but Fiction is there, with Mystery behind it, and Romance and Sci-Fi/Horror off to one side. No idea where Poetry is, now that I think of it. The Borders near us is similar, but I do find their shelving system odd, because they sub-categorize even further.

Susan, what are mini-bookstores at the mall? We don't have those - just the biggies.

Fiction (as an example only) in my nearest branch of Borders, is invisible when you walk in. The first thing is the table with the staff picks. Running along the lefthand wall is the "NY TIMES BEST SELLER LIST!" (their caps, not mine). Off to the right is the line of cash registers; beyond that, the magazines and newspapers.

You walk in and there's the vast bulk of the store, with its signs to various sections: Philosphy, Religion, Womens' Studies, Mystery, Science Fiction (I don't remember, honestly, whether there are romance and/or fantasy sections). There, in one corner, is a section called "Literature", where they dump everything they can't categorise.

The Starbucks and DVD/CD sections, on the other hand? Really large and visible.

P-C, there used to be a category called "Speculative Fiction". Atwood wanted Handmaid shelved there, or in lit. Lucky for her it was a best-seller, and a controversial one.

Susan, what are mini-bookstores at the mall?

Waldenbooks and B. Dalton and so on--the ones that seem so tiny now that B&N and Borders have such a strong presence.

Oh! I was envisioning little stall things, and was about to swoon in envy.

We have one that I can think of, at one local mall: a B. Dalton at Serramonte. That's about it.

Waldenbooks and B. Dalton and so on--the ones that seem so tiny now that B&N and Borders have such a strong presence.

I have this almost instinctive tradition of going into B. Dalton's and skimming the shelf on the left wall (fiction) for the presence of any Lorrie Moore. I just like seeing her on the shelf.

I'd say "mine too", but we're probably talking about the same store.

Hee! Yep.

Deb, I think I've just been too social lately.

Deb, I think I've just been too social lately.

Babe, if that's all that's doing it? It'll fuzz away on its own, I think.

I have marked Deb's post about distance, because I have self-diagnosed with that same problem.

With a side order of "doesn't this mean I'm not a very nice person if this stuff happens in my head?"

Yearrrrrgggggghhhhhhhh.

Tricksy brain, trickssssssssey.

Babe, if that's all that's doing it? It'll fuzz away on its own, I think.

It's really exhibit A that I'm kinda sorta an introvert.

I like people, but they make my brain go poof.

"am I evil if I allow a character to be gleefully tortured to death?"

That's a hard one. But it's better to write about the evil things than to do the evil things. Just remember not to do the evil things after you write about the evil things, otherwise it'll come up in your trial.