Right, sure. I have gotten good feedback about it from horror writers that I look up to, and to a certain extent that "means" more. But at the same time, obviously, I care about your opinion for other reasons. I guess sometimes I get drawn into feeling like, "how can she be friends with me if she doesn't like what I write?" which obviously is flawed. I guess... I'd prefer it if you didn't apologize for not liking it? IDK, b/c then I feel like it implies my intent was to have you personally like it, and I have failed, and you know, I get that enough from rejection letters that magazines send out: "This didn't work for us, sorry, better luck next time!" And I don't want to feel like I have to write something for your liking in the same way that I sort of have to write something that editors like. This is probably a case of me reading way too much into one word and you don't mean me to be inferring any of this, but... yeah, just please don't apologize. I get bad vibes from it.

The whole "deeply packed with universal meaning that everyone has to get it" is not what I meant by bigger, non-executable stories, btw, b/c I don't really aspire to that. I don't even really think it's possible.

Is this going to be a wedding extravaganza? Halley's also going to a wedding on Saturday and I wonder if it's the same one. I'm probably around on Sunday as well, regardless. I have to write a response paper over the weekend, but the biggest challenge there is going to be finishing the goddamn infuriating book (infuriating b/c the subject matter is infuriating, not b/c the writer is, except he's a really pathos-y journalist so that makes you even more infuriated to read about the infuriating things he's writing about).