Here is a collage of all my WIPS. Woe is me! I never used to have multiple WIPs. I might have a zombie project and an epic one, or a sewing and a knitting, but never bunches of unfinished things going.

I would read others’ resolutions not to begin any new projects till they finished all the old ones with a disbelieving shake of the head (I might have allowed a sad smile to play about my lips… can’t quite remember), knowing I would never get caught in that trap.

And yet, here I am… The magic collage button actually repeated some pictures, possibly things it thinks I ought to really get moving on, for heaven’s sake. But still, it is undeniable that I have four knitting projects, two quilts, a crochet project, four bits of dressmaking, and a lawn chair going. And that doesn’t even count future plans.

Hmmm. Maybe I better not start anything new till I finish something.

I really am reading The Shangri-La Diet, unlikely as that seems. My mother sent it to me, following a conversation about my triglycerides. Perhaps you have read about this or heard of it elsewhere. I had not.

Apparently, the central claim of this book is that you can, by drinking oil and sugar water every day, lose weight effortlessly. No exercise, and it doesn’t matter what you eat. As you can imagine, this has made it a popular idea down at the old diet book factory.

It sounds insane to me. I am reading it anyway, because my mother sent it to me. Now, my mother is a science fiction novelist, and she believes in reincarnation, so we already know that she is more open-minded than I am. However, I do try to be open-minded. If I can attend a fundamentalist Bible study, then surely I can read The Shangri-La Diet without prejudice.

Initial reaction? Well, of course it sounds sickening, but imagine that you get over that — or perhaps the nausea is part of the plan. My doctor told me to avoid sugar entirely, and to keep fats to a minimum. Lean meats, nonfat dairy, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, that’s what I am supposed to eat. Obviously, this book doesn’t fit that prescription at all. And, frankly, if I were going to have 29 grams of sugar every day, I would prefer to have it in the form of Ghirardelli dark chocolate (3 squares, you can have for that amount of sugar — and the fat content is covered too, by the oil), thank you very much.

But there is a whole book here, so there must be more in it than “drink some sugar.” I’ll let you know.