Jennifer Crusie | Argh Ink | Blog

I should have listened to you. “It’ll crash the site,” you said. “You’re gonna have problems,” you said. “Nah,” I said. Then Mollie e-mailed me with a heading that said “Yep-site crashed” and I thought, “Well, hell. Who knew?” Then I remembered: you all did.

But we’ve got it fixed now! We hope. It wasn’t supposed to be a nightmare. I apologize to everybody. ARGH.

In other news, we (Lani and I) started The Diet today in order to become Healthy People. So there may be some crankiness for the next two weeks since that’s how long it’s going to be before I can have chocolate pudding. Or bread. I think I get to have french fries again in 2012. Also, did you know the directions on the sugar-free Jello package tell you to stir the stuff for two minutes? Who does that? It’s Jello, not bechamel sauce. Yes, that’s cranky. Sorry. I’m in chocolate withdrawal.

And really sorry about the site crashing and the frustration and the general miasma of malfunction. I’m sure tomorrow will be better.

Oh, and CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS! Have some chocolate. Please.

Molly Bell posted this as a comment back on the “Habitat for Haiti” post, but I didn’t want you to miss it:

Hi Jenny, I thought you’d like an update about what Habitat for Humanity is doing in Haiti. Yesterday we announced a plan to provide 50,000 housing solutions in Haiti! There’s no misplaced decimal there, we really mean 50,000 families with a new or repaired home, that is safe and is constructed to withstand future disasters. It’s an ambitious goal, but we think we can do it, with the support of people like you and your fans. You can learn more about our approach at : http://www.habitat.org/ Thanks for getting the word out – it is appreciated! Molly

So your dollars are doing good. It’s hard to imagine fifty thousand families getting homes, but then you remember that this is what Habitat does. Amazing organization, made possible because you give. Thank you all so much.

Occasionally over the past six months, as Lani and I have discussed the world over tea, I’ve found myself quoting Bob Mayer. We collaborated for five years, it’s not unusual that I’d repeat something he’d said, but it turns out, Bob is deep. I mean, who knew?

Here are some teachings from The Tao of Bob. read more >>

I know I’ve lax here but I’ve been on deadline. I can now tell you that the truck draft for Maybe This Time has been zapped to New York. The first 68,000 words are genius. The next 32,000 blow dead bears. Lani said she’d never heard that expression before but we used it all the time where I grew up went to college. Which probably tells you more about where I grew up went to college than you wanted to know. I must now go back and fix the dead-bear-blowing part, but at least we all know that if I get hit by a truck, there’s a book.

In the meantime, Lucy March’s blog rocks, and Cracked just did Seven Common Survival Tactics That Will Get You Killed, which is actually useful should you be attacked by a shark, bitten by a snake, or lost in the desert. Also, don’t miss the Six Creepiest Places on earth because they are genuinely creepy.

And now back to the DBBing 32,000.

Habitat for Humanity is my national charity and right now they need everything they can get to help in Haiti. Molly Bell, their leadership development officer, just sent this to me:

Jenny,

Yesterday morning we awoke to the news of a 7.0 earthquake having struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti; the images in the news have been heart-wrenching. Habitat for Humanity is gearing up to respond to this disaster, and we need your help. An assessment team is currently being sent into the impacted area. Habitat for Humanity’s ability to react effectively to this disaster will require support from donors, volunteers, corporate partners and community organizations. Donations can be made at https://www.habitat.org/cd/giving/donate.aspx?link=227.

Here are some details about what Habitat for Humanity is doing in Haiti: read more >>