My novel and I had a very nice weekend, mostly. We worked through some plot changes together, I told her she was pretty, she revealed she still has feelings for me, and then just when I thought we were rolling she slipped out of my hands and ran off screaming and hollering through the room and I had to jump on her to calm her down. This is because she has a difficult spot around her middle and I’m trying to fix her up, if only she’d just sit still. Sometimes I want to put a leash on her so she can’t roam too far.

Then I think of the horrifying sight I saw at the bodega this weekend, while on a much-needed trip to stock up on revision ice cream. (What, you don’t need ice cream to complete a revision? Are you a superhero or a macrobiotic or something?) A short tough teenage guy came in and went to the counter to get a phone card and I was accosted with the enormous tattoo covering the whole of his left arm as he stood just beside me.

The tattoo was a menacing bulldog with red eyes. In the bulldog’s mouth was a leash. The leash was attached to the neck of a completely naked woman. Because the dog controlled the woman. Because women are lower than dogs.

I wanted to punch the guy in his smug face, but I am nonviolent (and do not want to get jumped in a bodega, and do not know how to throw a punch besides), so I held my ice cream to my chest and just glared.

I hope he never gets a girlfriend.

I hope a dog chews off his arm.

Is that mean?

So I take back what I said about the leash. My novel is free to run wild and I’ll never tie her down. I just hope she calms down enough so we can make deadline.

Speaking of tattoos, I sort of wanted to get a tattoo to commemorate every novel I publish, but I still haven’t come up with a good one for Dani Noir. I can never decide on tattoos, not that I’m against them, I think they’re gorgeous when they don’t involve naked women leashed to dogs, but I just change my mind too frequently and I can’t settle on an image I’d want on my skin for the rest of my life. It’s so annoying. This is also a problem when it comes to revision. Finishing a manuscript is like getting a tattoo. It’s forever. And when I’m revising it’s not forever yet. That’s why I love revision so much.

I still want to punch that guy in the bodega. Or at least glare at him some more.