Welcome Back

Between travel and internet connection problems, it's been a few days since I've written. My 15 minutes/day rule has been blown all to hell. But, as with dieting, the gym and other things, I've learned that a lapse is not an excuse not to pick up the charge again.
So here I am.
Adding to the notes I offered the other day on "The Business," I had an idea while up in Vegas for a chapter called "First Inning." It's the story of a classmate of the daughter/heroine, a varsity softball player whose name came to me as Clara Davenport. I have no idea why any of this popped into my head, BTW.
The idea of "First Inning" is that the daughter had always disdained Clara, and referred to her as a "lez." It turns out that Clara is not a lesbian, and that the whispered rumors about her all through high school have taken a toll. Daughter encounters Clara working in the porn industry.
She spreads the news that she and her friends had all been mistaken about Clara. She "ins" her -- hence the title.
Now part of the reason this came to me is that my own daughter has been watching "Mean Girls," incessantly for the past few weeks, and "Mean Girls" has a subplot about a girl falsely accused of being a lesbian.
But accusations and gossip also are a key part of adolescence, I think, so this story is a valid one.
I guess I'm also relating back to Linda, my own school classmate, to whom I believe I owe an apology.
Linda was a very nice person who I and others treated horribly throughout junior high and high school. We appended the word "pig" to her name, and made malicious fun of her. All she ever was to me was nice. I have guilt feelings stretching back 30 years over that one.
At one point I thought of writing a story about apologizing to Linda and having her rip me a new one for all the pain I caused her. Would it be self-serving to write that? Can I even imagine the pain that we all put her through?
Guilt is a terrible thing, but I think a valuable emotion.It helps us to keep perspective on our actions, and to deal with our responsibilities and behavior. I'm glad I feel guilty about misdeeds. I think that if I did not, I would be a sociopath.
More later.