First, dial-up sucks (but all of you probably already knew that).

I haven't been reading nearly as much as I've been writing which makes for good progress, but dull postings. I can say that it is much easier to write about Alaska when you are physically here. So far we've been running around on the four-wheeler, saw six moose last night (SIX!) and while in town (that would be Fairbanks) the other day, three DC-3s flew overhead on final approach - reminding me yet again that aviation is a whole different world here. (Not that there aren't DC-3s in the Lower 48 but I doubt they are seeing the daily flight time these bad boys are.)

It's still hard to put myself back in the story of who I was and what we did; there are so many things about working at the Company that are still hard to fathom so writing about them are pretty difficult. To give you an idea, yesterday I was trying to remember why I thought it was a bad idea to lie to the pilots - as everyone else who had my job lied all the time. My husband can't remember why things changed either. It was more of an ongoing discussion with my friends who were running the place and reaching a point with the pilots where it was okay to tell the truth, even though the truth about their loads meant they were flying heavy.

Which meant they were going to knowingly bust regs when they took off. Now can you see how they might have liked being part of the big lie?

The whole thing was crazy different from the real world so, navigating it is still a bit uncomfortable. But I'm plowing along and getting it all down. I know that while in revisions I will figure out more poetic ways of saying things then just the obvious. (And revising is my favorite part anyway.)

I am reading Adrienne Martini's Hillbilly Gothic and I think there needs to be a "coping with postpartum depression" section of the bookstore so everyone who needs these books can find them. (Or maybe a "having a baby isn't what you thought it would be" section.) It's such a different experience from my own that in some ways I feel like the book is written in a foreign language - but I also think there are a ton of women who should be reading this and not those endlessly chirpy "aren't we happy to be having a baby!!!!" books. (Hated those.) Review on this one to follow somewhere in the next month or so. I'm going to be reading Margo Lanagan's Red Spikes next and really looking forward to that.

More in the next day or so.........