"Butter makes you regular," my French pastry instructor was fond of saying. (Imagine it in a French accent.)

I found my cat licking the outside of a bag of flour the other day. He'd been licking it long enough the bag was damp. Weirdo.

Steph, I'm sorry about the sexy publisher. Their loss, to be sure.

Aww, thanks. They specifically said, when I started the testing process, that they cannot give feedback to people who are not asked to continue. So while I'd *really* love to know what I missed, or did "wrong" (they had very specific instructions about thing NEVER to change), I won't be able to find out. Which is going to drive me nuts, because I really felt very good about that test. Bah.

I have to tell you -- I worked with Imogen when she was writing for Drollerie, which was how I got in touch with her. And I took that test -- or, I should say, I got that test from her a few years ago, and then life exploded or whatever and I never got around to it. She gave me another try later, but I looked at it and thought it was a little uptight (to be polite) about what they were asking. So I ditched it.

But I am the original lazy copy editor who taught herself on mass market romance for very little money (via Kensington, of course), so I'm not always the best copy editor for a really picky job. And I didn't really want to have to edit that way, although I was also pretty sure I'd flunk, so.

That was so much more than you wanted to know! Sorry. I'm procrastinating over a piece of freelance book copy!

I looked at it and thought it was a little uptight (to be polite) about what they were asking. So I ditched it.

If I had to guess what dinged me, I probably over-edited it. I tried SO hard not to -- honestly, the position description reads very much like a human spellcheck and not much more -- but I probably did more than they wanted.

The pay really is way too low, unless I could edit at the speed of light (like, 12K word count in, say, 2 hours). So it's all probably for the best, but it still hurts my fragile baby ego.

I know! I've been there. But AMA is kickass! And there won't be any ass hooks! Probably.

Man, you never can tell with the AMA. They're freaks.

The AMA is more likely to deal with asshooks gone bad.

I hear that's a new show on Bravo next season.

I would watch the HELL out of it.

Frak. Latest family drama: my dad's new wife has a number of children, one of whom has mental health (and drug addiction) issues. My older brother ran into him at the pub where said older brother is staying. My stepbrother started threatening some fifty-year old, my brother intervened, and my stepbrother pushed him down a flight of stairs (onto concrete). My brother has a broken arm, and is lucky it wasn't much worse. They need to insert a metal plate, but it won't happen until Sunday. Meanwhile he's at home with a broken arm and a course of Panadeine Forte. He'll be unable to work for a number of weeks.

My dad talked to my brother's on/off girlfriend once, made excuses for my stepbrother, and hasn't been to visit.