Zed Is NOT Dead, Despite Rumors to the Contrary

Wow, I missed you guys. And I'm exhausted. I walked on land, I walked on water (as usual), I walked on doo-doo in the road. Okay, the truth is that in the last few months, I didn't really walk much further than around local running tracks, in shopping malls, and on the beach in Florida in late March/early April. But what IS true is I missed you guys big time. And so I'm returning to blogging.

Here's the problem: I know most people can put a blog article together in 5 minutes and post it. But I'm an editor, and it's impossible not to edit, and edit, and edit my own stuff ad infinitum. It's obsessive compulsive. Not that all that editing makes what I write any better than anyone else's blog junk, it's just edited better. :) So, it doesn't take me 5 minutes to post--it takes me an hour to approve my own work, or more. And if, God forbid, the post contains illustrations, I need another hour or two to research photos on the subject.

It's not my fault, it's my career's fault. It's the fault of a picky editor-in-chief named Murray from many moons ago who insisted I was wrong in using the phrase "a room with many cabinets" in my monthly column in a housing/decorating magazine. He said, "You need to write 'a cabineted room.' " So I changed the wording to make Murray happy. Two months later when writing about another new residence somewhere in Southern California, Murray told me I was wrong in writing "cabineted room" and that I should write "a room with many cabinets." These sorts of things play with your head and traumatize you far into your adult years if you let them. In fact, if I see many cabinets at your place when I visit, I'm not even going to mention them to you. :)

Anyway, after the Murray fiasco, I decided I didn't want to write much any longer--I'd far rather edit. And I'm most brutal with my own writing. So blogging takes me lots and lots of time. I think I'll be a whole lot less "perfect" now and if you see an error just think "that idiot" to yourselves and move on. Just the way you always did anyway.

P.S. Many thanks to Jen of Casual Slack for finding my super-secret "you can die if you email me here" email address and for nudging me to get back to blogging. A little guilt goes a long way with me.

P.S.S. The Hispanic spammer made a couple of visits in my absence, I see. I sort of like him. Though I have no idea what he's saying regarding Elvis (nor do I care), he's most agreeable, and his renditions of "Guantanamera" and "El Condor Pasa" are impeccable. Yo amo Senor Spammer! (Psst, how does one make a spammer go away?)