Am I the only one that thinks Teri Hatcher looks like she could take you in a bar brawl and enjoy the fight? :confused:

Woohoo!! Proposal is finished and submitted. Keep various and sundry body parts crossed that it gets the thumbs up. :satisfied:

Back to work on this novella….

I love my cell phone. Some days I like it better than most of my family members. We’re close. I understand having a cell phone, loving your cell phone, and using it often, BUT, (you could see that big BUT coming, couldn’t you?) it reallly annoys me when people carry on a loud, obnoxious conversation in a bookstore.

I’m in B&N checking out whether my two favorite mystery/suspense writers, Minnette Walters and Jill McGowan, have something new out. One aisle over, I hear, “Oh my God. Oh, MY GOD. OH, MY GOD. ARE YOU OKAY?” It’s annoying but I think someone must’ve just died or found out she needed an organ transplant or something equally heinous to warrant the concern at that decibel.

Uh…no. Cause this goes on…and on…and on. I’m not eavesdropping. I’d love to not hear it, but she’s in my section of choice and I can’t get away from her big fat mouth turned up to high volume. I seriously thought about tapping her on the shoulder and suggesting she take her cell phone and her conversation outside. But, if she’s rude enough to carry on that way she’d probably just suggest something unpleasant or anatomically uncomfortable, perhaps even impossible.

But please, folks. Bookstores are sacred. Leave the phone in your car or turn it off when you’re inside. Show a little respect. :hehe:

Met a writer friend for dinner last night. We usually only see each other once a year, but we keep in touch regularly via e-mail. She’s truly amazing. Juggles a high-level corporate job that demands a grueling travel schedule, publishes two books a year, and is still a very involved wife and mother. She’s incredibly organized and driven. Very pragmatic and practical. I’ve always admired her focus and ability to compartmentalize.

So, she flew into Atlanta for business and we met for dinner. It’s always awesome to spend time with her and last night was no exception. We were enjoying a nice glass of zinfindel and catching up when she mentioned she’d been doing tarot readings which you’re supposed to keep the results in a notebook. I’m pretty sure my mouth dropped open because it’s just so not my business-oriented friend. Then she went on to say she tracks her tarot readings through an Excel spreadsheet she set up. ROFLMAO!!

I finished the revisions on my time travel yesterday. Really glad to have that done. The up side to having them done is that…well, they’re done. The down side is that I have totally lost all perspective at this point. I have no clue as to whether it’s overwritten, half-written, poorly written, or well-written. All I know is that it’s written. :hehe:

Today I’m working on a proposal for a book I’m really excited about. I’m not being coy in not mentioning any details. It’s not sold yet, so I’m not saying a word until I get the thumbs up. And then there’s the little matter of that novella that’s due soon…. :hehe:

My morning is off to a stellar start. The Girl and I went out for breakfast before school — we maybe do this once a month. We’re sitting at breakfast and she’s telling me about her soccer practice yesterday.

First, let me set this up for you. My girl is big for her age. She’s half an inch taller than I am. She’s tall and while she’s not fat by any means, she’s not a stick girl either. She’s a good kid and more than once she’s stood up to bullies on behalf of her friends. Much like her mom, she won’t back down from a fight, but she doesn’t go looking for it.

Well…we’ve had a situation on her soccer team. There’s this skinny kid who might come up to my daughter’s shoulder. They’ve played soccer together all through rec league and moved up to adademy together last year. This other kid can be incredibly obnoxious. In the fall, The Girl would tell me that at almost every practice this kid would sneak in a kick and send my girl’s ball way out so my girl had to go chase it down. There are 30 kids practicing on the field and if my kid positioned herself away from this other kid, the other kid would find her. If they were juggling the ball, she’d reach over and foul up my girl so she’d have to start over. She’s made fun of my daughter’s hair, called her gross in front of her teammates, ragged her out in front of her teammates when she was playing keeper and allowed the other team to score. You get the picture. But this kid is smart and sneaky. She pulls this stuff when there’s no adult watching. I considered having a talk with the other kid’s parents, but I think the parents have no control over this kid, so I didn’t think it’d do much good. And my girl takes it because she’s so much bigger, she doesn’t want to look like a bully. Actually, it’s a case of reverse bullying. I thought about taking the kid aside and having a talk with her myself but that didn’t quite feel right either. So, she simply got away with it.

Anyway… over breakfast, The Girl tells me that Mary (name changed to protect the not-so-innocent) once again sent my girl’s ball flying over the fence. She looked at my daughter and said, “Fetch, girl.” :crazy: First soccer practice of the spring season and Mary’s already started in on my girl again.

However, this time one of the coaches caught it. He told her, “You have two choices. You can give her your ball to play with for the rest of practice and go get hers now or you can put yours down and go get hers now. Either way, you will go get her ball now.” This brazen little bully just looks at him. He claps his hands and says, “Chop, chop, Mary. Now.” YES!

I’m afraid I couldn’t contain myself at this point in the recounting and cheered aloud in the middle of the restaurant. My poor child covered her face with her hands and muttered, “Mom, you’re embarrassing me.” But she had a big grin on her face.

Me? I’ve been smiling ever since. My day is off to a stellar start. :P

I just finished my time travel earlier this week and now I’m settling in for revisions. This has been the coolest book to write — I know it’s taken me forever and I’ve moaned and complained but it really has been interesting. The hero’s last name is MacTavish. So…I actually found the MacTavish tartan on-line. I think I have to order the mini-kilt made from the MacTavish tartan. Got to have it. Perhaps even an item made from the MacTavish tartan for my July contest giveaway, hmmm. I also ordered the clansman dvd, just to fact check… really it has nothing to do with hoping that there’s a bunch of men in kilts. Honest. Really, it’s all about the facts. And this morning we had Scottish oatmeal, also known as porridge, for breakfast. I think, however, we’ll skip the haggis experience. :laugh:

Anyone interested in having a look at the MacTavish tartan, here’s the link:

http://www.scotsconnection.com/uploads/html/MacTavish_Tartan_654_1.htm

:hehe: :rolleyes:

As was recently pointed out, there’s no rest for the wicked.

The Girl: Mom, I just wanted to remind you that you said you’d paint the bathroom when you finished that book and since you turned it in yesterday…

Me: I’ve got some bad news for ya, Pete.

The Girl: What? Revisions?

Me: There is that and I have a novella due.

The Girl: When?

Me: Two weeks.

The Girl: Mom! Don’t tell me you haven’t started it!

Me: I have some pages.

The Girl: But this bathroom is getting on my nerves.

Me: What? You don’t like the look with half the wallpaper ripped off? Come on, Baby. Maybe after the novella and the synopsis for that other book….