The Contortionist's Handbook

I haven't gotten shit done today and it's all Sam Sugar's fault.

There are three sets of interview questions in my email awaiting reply, 12 drawings due for an architecture firm in NYC that I haven't even started, copy to be written so I can pimp my Great Bowl O Fire to landscape and garden places… I've got a blog and a website to design for some new clients, a prototype to weld up for a patent application, some steel frames I owe a friend, and about 20 posts I should be making to my own blogs to announce all the groovy shit that's been going on or through my head this week. Oh yeah, and I've been redesigning the entire Typepad platform in my spare time, just 'cause, you know, I want to help them kick ass. But all that's on hold for the moment. And forget about personal email till tomorrow at the earliest.

So, what have I been doing all day? I've had my head buried in Craig Clevenger's book, The Contortionist's Handbook and this is the first time I've pulled it out long enough to hit the keyboard.

Thank god I didn't open the damn thing this weekend when it first arrived… I had a gorgeous, brilliant, sexy new lover visiting from afar and had I been fool enough to start this thing while she was here, she might have left after the first few hours of engrossed silence. Then again, maybe it's not quite that good, or at least, I hope my priorities aren't that whacked. And besides, I picked her up at the airport… it would have been a long damn walk to civilization from here.

Anyway, Sam offered to send a few free copies of Craig's book to bloggers some time ago, and I signed up for one. After all, what harm can come from getting a free book in the mail? Well, you know the pusher-man's old line, "the first one's free…" This Clevenger is literary crack. I can see I'll be hitting Amazon in the near future to get another fix. The good news? At least I won't be out of commission for days. The book is a fast read… I've burned through over half of it already today and I'm sure I'll finish it before I sack out for the night. If only because I'm not gonna be able to sleep until I get to the end.

If you missed out on Sam's generous offer, I suggest you go out and actually pay for a copy of this book. But for christ's sake, don't even think about reading it if you have actual obligations you can't blow off temporarily.

Nifty trivia: The birthday date of the main character's fake ID happens to be my birthday. Wrong year, right day and month.

Okay, more when I come back up for air. I gotta see what happens next.

Tags: Craig Clevenger, book, Contortionist's Handbook, dermaphoria, Sam Sugar, sugarbank, blog, blogger

Comments

[Sabrina]

My Handbook hasn't arrived yet so I'll have to be careful of spoilers, but after plowing through Dermaphoria it's reassuring to see I'm not the only one who had a weekend derailed by Clevenger eating their brain. That reminds me, I have a post to make... bwahaha.

Have fun, let us know how it is - but not too thoroughly! ;)

[BadAss]

Sabrina,

You *do* have a mean streak, don't you… laughing at my immobility like that!

Don't worry, I'll avoid spoilers. And yes, I finished it this morning over coffee, so I can get back to work now. The ending has a really nice twist, just as Sam led me to expect.