Go Team!

Now that T is taking circus classes twice a week, I'm trying to use that time as a solid hour and a half of writing. Good in theory, especially on Fridays when I can sit and focus in the big, cold, drafty gym. But Tuesdays are tough. On Tuesdays, Cheer SF practices in the same big, cold, drafty gym and they are so rockin' cool that I have trouble just sitting there and staring at my laptop.


Cheer SF is a Bay Area LGBT cheerleading group and they work their tushes off for three hours every Tuesday doing some amazing stuff - lets just say it's a good thing that the ceilings are really, really high. Maybe my next book will be the story of a gay cheerleader whose performance is sabotaged by a bad basket catch - was it an accident or was it cruel competition?

C-H-E-E-R SF...GO TEAM!

On this date: In 1949 the first daytime soap debuted.

Holding Pattern...

I've been flaking on my blog posts because there is really not much going on. I'm trying to finish the new YA as fast as I can so that I can turn around and revise it extensively. I do have one thing out right now, but other than that, we're in a holding pattern until I get it done. It's frustrating, but when I get annoyed (mostly at myself) I have to remind myself that these are the dues paying times. I'm so hoping that one day I'll look back on right now and toss my head back, laughing as I sit on the author panel at the LA conference and talk about how I spent months sweating it out until I could finish THAT book. Sigh. It ain't gonna write itself.

On this date: In 1948, Ghandi was assassinated.

On Sunday

we went up in the Space Shuttle and became weightless. We even took pictures and got home in time for dinner and AFV on TV.



On this date: In 1978, Fantasy Island premiered.

Hobby or Job?

I was just listening to an author interview on the radio, and he was talking about when he started. He said, "Well, I would just come home from work, go to my office and write for five hours. My wife would hold dinner and we would eat at 10pm." How nice for him. This got me irritated and it took me a while to figure out why. It's men.

When a man decides that he is going to "become a writer", everyone says how great and they look at it as a second job for the poor overworked guy. When a woman decides to "become a writer" people see it as a nice little hobby that should be done when there is time after everything else is finished. Not that DH isn't supportive (he is), but I can only imagine the look on his face if I greeted him at 5pm, said "Hi dear, I'm going to go write now. Make sure the kids have dinner, finish their homework, get cleaned up and put to bed. Then make sure that the laundry is folded, the dishes are done and that everything is ready to go for tomorrow. I'll see you at 10 when I'm done." Uh, right. No, I do my fiction writing after the kids go to bed and before I do.

I think what I need is a wife.

On this date: In 1915, the world's largest diamond is found in South Africa

An Inconvenient Truth

I've discovered something that is frustrating and annoying: Books do not write themselves. I know. I too was amazed when I found this out. I even tried experimenting with this theory, leaving the file alone in my laptop for days - even a week once, and nothing happened while I was gone. Nobody moved, nobody spoke...I don't think anyone even breathed in my absence. I gave everyone such a great start - I was sort of expecting them all to pick it up and run with it. I was hoping to find entire chapters wrapped up, climaxes reached and problems solved, all in utterly astounding prose that would make an editor weep. Instead, I'm faced with a blinking cursor that is at the end of the last word that I wrote. I'm flummoxed to say the least.

On this date: In 1961, Marilyn Monroe divorced Arthur Miller.

Summer in Winter

Well, I've got the summer pretty well planned. What's that you say? It's only January? True, but as any Mom knows, you have to get a jump on these things.

DH travels a lot and because of that we have something in the neighborhood of a zillion frequent flyer miles. We got first class passes anywhere in the US, Mexico or Hawaii, so we chose Aruba. Not because it's better than Hawaii, but because it was the farthest away - I've never flown first class so I want it to last awhile. I've never been to Aruba, so if you have any suggestions, let me know, Natalie Holloway not withstanding. It's so nice to sit in the cold (well, cold for California) and rainy weather and look at pictures of snow white beaches and turquoise water. Now we just have to choose a hotel...

While we were figuring out where to leave the kids that week in July, I went ahead and planned the rest of the summer. Two weeks of day camp, one week in Texas with Grammy, one week in Aruba (yay!) for me and DH only, one week on Lake Tahoe with our BFFs and maybe a quick road trip to the Grand Canyon via Las Vegas. Anyone want to come?

On this date: In 2006, I started the blog - happy Blogiversary to me!

Only in Northern California...

My BFF found this at the store, and it amazed me:


Not only is it in a container more closely associated with processed cheese food and whipped cream, but note that it is organic. How much more convenient can you get?

On this date: In 1981 the Iran hostage crisis ended.