Dear Cyndy

No, I'm not miffed in the least; and as for rallying my charm,
I ain't got none; you must have someone else in mind. If I don't
write for a few days, it's not for being disgruntled, but from
determination to keep my nose to the grindstone, figuratively
speaking, as best I can. I hope to be able to send you the URL's
to the produce in the not too distant future.

With respect to the suggestion of introducing yet another woman
into the plot of Die Freunde, I'm considering the possibilities:
a fellow student of Joachim's, a friend of Charlotte's,
a colleague of Jonathan's, or perhaps a teacher in the cooking
school in which I have just enrolled Charlotte. I must proceed
with caution to avoid unmanageable fragmentation of the story.
I remind myself that this novel, like life itself, has a plot
only in retrospect. All that I can be sure of is that my characters
will be vulnerable to all the vicissitudes of existence, they
will fall in - and out of - love, will marry and perhaps divorce,
some of their dreams will be fulfilled, some of their dreams will
turn into nightmares, and in the end they will get old and die.
I'm helpless to control their fate. All I can do is to keep on
writing.

My best to you and Ned.

Jochen