TOO then goes off on a rant about how much it must suck to be a king in England if it's always the Queen that are "bloody" and making all the decisions and tries to lecture *ME* on the British monarchy and succession.

!!!

...for her next trick, will she try teaching ita about martial arts? Perhaps explain to ND how he should design sound? Tell Jilli all about the goth subculture?

!!!

iow, heavens, she earned her smack-down, and then some. (Yay for being prococious! But Boo Hiss for being obnoxious. The two can be mutually exclusive.)

Susan, I'm loving your dress-for-the-writer-you-want-to-be thing. And indeed, it's giving me food for thought myself - not in terms of how I dress, but in terms of how I can think about how I dress. (Feeling a bit down at the moment, having had several people make somewhat 'well, you're a total freak' flavoured comments about my appearance. Not that they said that, but that seemed to be the subtext. And not in a good way. Which I shouldn't object to, obviously, because I do dress rather eccentrically - but, you know, I'm pretty much all about the 'you march to your own drumbeat, and good luck to you' kind of outlook, for the most part. And although I'm camp as tits, I'm just not all about the whole bitchqueen side of campness. I really don't like being snippy about people's clothes or personalities, unless they are total bastards. So - feeling a little bruised about being ribbed about my clothes and personality lately. Which is stupid, because I'm normally quite cheerful and thick-skinned about it these days. [...of course I have been menstruating (v. lightly) nonstop since November. This has happened before, 6 or 7 years ago, and I'm NOT freaking out about it. I'm just assuming it's the PCOS screwing with my system in a new and interesting way and hoping it will stop soon. This may be having a bit of an impact on my emotions, though. Maybe.])

...for her next trick, will she try teaching ita about martial arts? Perhaps explain to ND how he should design sound? Tell Jilli all about the goth subculture?

I know!! I mean, jeebus. I didn't spend 6 months trying to figure out where in the line of sucession I am to not know this shit!

And also? Poor Fay. Are you going to get things checked out, just to be sure?

Perhaps explain to ND how he should design sound?

Was her name Ted?

Bwahahahahaha!

Are you going to get things checked out, just to be sure?

Um. I'm operating on the denial denial denial! basis at the moment. Partly because that is my default, and partly because I know that here in Thailand I'm not insured for anything PCOS-related (what with having been, you know, honest on my BUPA form.) But my school is right smack bang in the grounds of a hospital. So it's very easy to go and get things sorted, if need be.

(I'm also hoping that the low-carbing will help. It's supposed to be recommended for PCOS-ers. Not that my doctors told me a single freaking useful thing either about said menstrual issues when they occured, or about the whole PCOS thing when they figured that out a few years later [after saying 'no, no, it's not that PCOS-thing your mum found out about online, nope, no siree....oh. er. hang on...].)

I'm with Aimee on getting things checked out just in case.

Though there's a certain amount of "Physician, heal thyself" there, because I'm pretty sure I have fibroids, but haven't taken the steps to get a firm diagnosis. But that's partly because I'm up-to-date on my physical and my primary care doc is pretty sure it's fibroids too and that I should get them checked them out A) before I decide to get pregnant again or B) if I definitely decide NOT to have any more kids, and both those things are in limbo for the time being.

Oh, and one more comment on the whole "reinvent my wardrobe/image" thing...

I happen to love the visual look of the era I'm writing about. Now, I'm not going to walk around in costume unless I go to a Jane Austen ball or take up military re-enacting (both of which I'd love to do, were there but world enough and time, but that's another story). But if I could find ways of getting subtle little echoes of that turn-of-the-19th-century aesthetic into my wardrobe, that seems like another way I could look like the writer I want to be. Things like the occasional Empire waist (which looked great on me 50 lbs. ago), subtle military details on a coat (which is part of what I was looking for in those coats I posted), etc.

Good idea, or would that make me the Duchess of Dorkington?

Good idea, or would that make me the Duchess of Dorkington?

I am not the person to give you feedback about this. AT ALL. I mean, I say yes! Absolutely incorporate touches of that era into your clothes! But my advice might be a bit ... biased.

(It's almost like you waved the Jilli wand and she appeared!)