Probably if she's a stranger, skip it anyway. I know I got tired of hearing about everybody's crippled grandson who was so helped by the mare-placenta injections or whatnot.(I think there is no treatment so weird that there isn't somebody who is helped by it.)

I try not to judge weight, but I have to admit to having the "feed him/her a sandwich" reaction when I see an actor or actress who I feel used to look healthy but suddenly has had a dramatic weight loss. I admit to having the reaction every time I watch NCIS this season and see how thin the actor who plays McGee has become.

Much job~ma to Aims. The world needs you as a teacher. Also, clue-sticking all around Seska's university, which I would have thought would have been thoroughly clued years ago.

Yep. What Ginger said.

ND, so sorry about your loss and how it'll affect your mom.

As far as the weight/body type commentary thing, eh-- I've been on both ends of the spectrum: both so skinny that most people thought there was something medically wrong with me and fat enough to qualify as obviously obese. And because my family doesn't believe in restraint of any sort, I heard it all, including, when I was at a healthy weight, after being so thin, "My GOD, you've gotten fat." (120 lbs, qualified for that comment.) As such, while I try not to verbalize comments like that, just because I see them as rude and intrusive, I tend to not even register them when they're directed at me. Frankly, what I do to myself in my own head is far worse than any passing comment.

Of course, that's just me. Everyone else's MMV.

so many actresses...

Barb, are you feeling any better today?

Tons of job~ma, Aims. Also, TCG and I are planning on going to England sometime in the Spring and I'll be sure to send you some royal wedding loot if any is out yet.

As far as the weight/body type commentary thing, eh-- I've been on both ends of the spectrum: both so skinny that most people thought there was something medically wrong with me and fat enough to qualify as obviously obese. And because my family doesn't believe in restraint of any sort, I heard it all, including, when I was at a healthy weight, after being so thin, "My GOD, you've gotten fat." (120 lbs, qualified for that comment.) As such, while I try not to verbalize comments like that, just because I see them as rude and intrusive, I tend to not even register them when they're directed at me. Frankly, what I do to myself in my own head is far worse than any passing comment.

Barb is me. When I was in high school I weighed 90 lbs and would have Italian relatives pinch my waist and tell me I was too skinny, but when I got above an 8 (which I am far above now) it was noticed that I was gaining weight. Although I probably got more "too skinny" comments then I do comments about having gained weight.

Ah, sj, you just reminded me...Aimee, I recently watched a British tv show called "Time Team", which is dedicated to bringing archeology to the masses, where the team spent time in all three of Queen E's castles. I thought of you.

I used to be super-skinny (6'3", 125#) in high school. I got picked on somewhat. By college I had managed to get my weight up to 140#. Every time I saw a new doctor, s/he'd say, "Have you recently lost a lot of weight?" I'd just say, "No, I've always been this way." That was the extent of concern for my health I received (and in retrospect, the doctors' questions make perfect sense).

Now I'm at about 230#, and it seems like all the extra weight is in my belly. My body image is like The Amazing Bobinski.

Barb, are you feeling any better today?

A little, I think. I vented all over poor Lewis and he brought home Chinese food because, as he said, "It seemed as if you wanted food to just magically appear."

Which, actually... I wasn't planning on eating at all, because I didn't think I was hungry, but I was. And food magically appeared. He's really the best, for putting up with my neurotic writer ass.

And you know, I really hate being such a cliché. I mean, I know, logically and intellectually, that everything I'm stressing over is something that I cannot control. I've done what I can. I wrote the best book I could, at that time. (Of course now, I torture myself because I know I could even write it better.) and all I can do is sit back and let nature take its course, as it were.

Of course, not having another contract at the moment also leaves me fretting inside my own head too much (see above: what I can do to myself being far worse than anything anyone can say). I want to keep getting better as a writer, I want to sell well, I want critical approbation and to get starred reviews and appear on "Best of" lists, even though those are all just subjective and aren't really a reflection on how well I can write.

I don't know... I know I'm good at what I do. And while I have no illusions of being the next Toni Morrison or Isabel Allende or Michael Chabon, I at least want to be really good.

Welcome to pre-release day jitters, Barb style. Oy. Y'all can feel free to take me out back behind the woodshed and kick the shit out of me for being a whiny git.

Barb, don't be so hard on yourself, you have every right to have the pre-release jitters, although I am hoping they are completely unjustified and you are going to be smashing success. I'm glad your hubby was wise enough to know what you needed and to see that you got it.