H A P P Y

When I was in college I played an elaborate April Fools joke on my room mate. She was still in love with her high school crush even though he was in another town at another college. I wrote a type-written letter from him telling her he had gotten engaged to someone he recently met. I even faked a postmark from his college town and stepped on the envelope a couple of times so it looked like it had been sent through the mail.

When we went to the mailboxes that day she opened the letter right in the middle of the student union even though it was her practice to "savor" her mail and wait to open it back in our room. When she got to the part about his engagement, she fell against the mailboxes and started crying...loudly. Then she ran back to the room. I ran after her trying to convince her it was an April Fools joke, but she wouldn't believe me. I'm sure I finally convinced her and she forgave me although I don't remember that part. She didn't end up with that guy, but she's married now with 2 teenagers. I haven't talked to her in a long time. I think I'll call her today and wish her a happy April 1st.

"SEVERAL" Publishers Interested in My Book!

I can't say much but I can tell you several publishers means
more than two and less than infinity. The publishing world
is so strange and mysterious and I can't help but be in awe
of its secret handshake-ish ways. Fortunately I have an agent who understands how it works and all I have to do is keep writing. But when he tells me we have interest from more than one publisher, well, I mean, come on. This could be BIG! He also told me it wasn't time yet for the happy dance so I'll just leave my jazz shoes in the closet for now. We have to wait patiently for the passing around of the manuscript on its hopeful journey ever upward in the publishers' organizational charts.

Britney's Clock Ticking?

Not anymore. That's right. Britney's expecting a baby and plans to spend the summer in her Dad's new smoothie shop frappe-ing fruit and designing maternity waitress uniforms. You just can't make this stuff up!

Mother Said There'd Be Days Like This

In this case a picture is worth a thousand innuendos so I'll just stop here.

Eating Harder Than Sex?

At my monthly Romance Author's meeting we had a speaker on Kundalini Yoga as it pertains to writing. In a nutshell Kundalini is the belief that there are different levels of life. These are represented by discs along the spine known as chakras. His message was how a fully developed character should have all 7 levels. They are:
1. root--consciousness
2. genitals--able to reproduce; desire
3. stomach--able to feed yourself; survival; aggression
4. heart--have relationships; care about others
5. throat--communication
6. third eye--imagination and spirituality
7. crown--know there's more beyond our grasp

Okay, now that you've hung yourself from mind-numbing boredom, the reason I bring this up is the speaker said it's more difficult (you need a more complex brain) to feed yourself than to have sex. I don't know about you, but it's pretty freakin' easy to drive through McDonald's. Some locations even use your toll tag to take your money, so other than speaking into the little box to give your order, and reaching out the window to get the sack, that's it!

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe I've ever had to shave my legs in order to eat. And have you ever been to a singles bar for the evening? (I'm thinking WAY back to my disco days, but I don't think things have changed that much.) That's a lot of work! Picking through all the weirdos, throwing come-hither looks at the precise moment, holding in your stomach for hours at a time? And that doesn't even include undressing (and the accompanying stress that implies,) applying the appropriate protection, working up a sweat, the actual moment of ecstasy and putting your clothes back on.

Or maybe humans have just made sex more complicated than it needs to be.

Do You Want Fingers With That?

Okay, I can't even begin to imagine how terrifying to find body parts in your fast food. If you haven't heard yet, a women in CA found a 1-1/2" piece of a finger (and I don't mean chicken finger) in her Wendy's Chili.

So when she realized what she pulled out of her mouth, the woman did what any sane person would do...she threw up. I guess that's just the human body's way of saying "I don't think so, Girlfriend..." They did a finger check of the Wendy's staff and nobody had been digitally altered.

Santa Clara authorities said they didn't want to point fingers, but they feel confident about a positive ID. After all, they have an excellent print to work from. (I just made that last part up.)

You Have To Admit...This Is Funny

You can find more re-written book covers at:
World Of Longmire

Why I'm Glad I Live In Texas

Taken someplace it snows a lot.

Write a Story Inspired By This Picture

This is next week's assignment. It should be no longer than a page (Courier double spaced.) Happy creating!

By the way, this is the cover of the Spring '05 Anthropologie Catalog. For a larger view, click on the photo.

The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test

Take this test...it's fun and eerily accurate. My results are below.

Link: The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test

The Harlequin


You are a mystery, a jack-of-all-trades. You have the king's ear, but also listen to murmurings of the common folk. You believe in the value of force and also literature. Truly you are the puzzlement of the age.

Next Week's Assignment: Back Cover Blurb

For next Wednesday's critique group writing assignment we all wrote down a suggested "setting" in one bowl and a "genre" in the other and then drew out one from each.

I'll give you a list of each to choose from (since it would be difficult for you to pick from the bowl.)

Setting: deserted island, southern plantation in the Louisiana Bayou, the market with 3 screaming kids, backstage at a Broadway theater, cockpit of a jet, downtown Boston during a blizzard, comedy club near New Jersey airport, gynocologist's office, Texas State Fair, hotel suite hot tub.

Genre: historical, chick lit, romance, western, fantasy, mystery.

Now, write the back cover blurb for your "cockpit of a jet historical", your plantation chick lit" or whatever you pick.

Unfortunately, my choices were random (the market with 3 screaming kids fantasy.) I'll post what I come up with next week...

If you post by Wed. at noon I'll read yours to the group and bring back their comments here.

Are People Really That Mean?

I've started looking at other blogs on blogspot and occasionally run across one that's interesting, funny or well-written...and add a comment. Okay, my comment might be a bit humorous in a slightly sarcastic way. But I consider a comment on my blog a compliment that I said something worth responding to. But OMG these people are really hateful, like I'm invading their precious blog world.

HELLO??? If you don't want me to read it, put it in a diary with a lock on it!

I thought that was the point of these things...to put your thoughts "out there", build a readership and create some buzz. Instead I'm sent running and screaming from their blogs, hitting the delete button on their site address as fast as my mouse finger can fly, never to return again. I just don't get it.

8-ball Revealed

The internet is an AMAZING place where you can find EVERYTHING you EVER wanted to know about ANYTHING. Pay particular attention to the note about the "Blue Fluid."

8ball.ofb.net/procedure

Am I right? "Reply hazy, try again."

Just Ducky

Thought I would post the cute cake my daughter and I made for my best friend's bath shower. We used green Skittles for the eyes. I was especially proud of the iridescent acrylic halves that look like bubbles.

The Blogfather

I heard about the guy who invented the word "blog" (short for web log for those of you living in caves.) So I went to his website (maybe we should call website "bsite". If it catches on I want credit.) peterme.com
and I must say I was disappointed. It's a little technical for my taste. I wanted to hear about his latest break-up and what he's doing this weekend. But then, what do I expect from an inventor?

At the ripe old age of 42 she'd never...

Here's another exercise we completed in my critique group. It always amazes me how diverse everyone's imagination is.

"It didn't seem fair to Susan that, at the ripe old age of 42, she'd never...

Complete the paragraph in the comments section.

I've already included mine there.