Still recovering...

I've still got to take up the last few shots on my disposable camera so I can post pictures taken from the 3 Day walk. I'm far enough behind it that I now seem to recall good things and think of it as a positive experience. I'm glad I did it, but next time I'll probably choose to walk one that's less than 60 miles. I'm no longer in pain, but my knees are amazingly stiff. Odd since it was my hips that gave me the most problems during the actual walk. Anyway, when I get photos developed, I'll share.

Speaking of sharing photos, I promised one of editors from the New Jersey Put Your Heart In A Book conference. Here goes:
Denise Zaza from Harlequin, Patience Smith from Harlequin, Angela James from Samhain, Lucia Macro from Avon, Rose Hilliard from St. Martin's Press, Selena James from Kensington, & Stacey Boyd from Harlequin.

I just have to share some news. In this year's county fair, my two youngest kids both won awards. :) James got first place & Abby got second. Plus, Abby's cheerleading squad got 2nd place overall on Sunday in their cheerleading competition. :) I'm very proud of their accomplishments. Woo hoo.

And for those of you curious about the weight I might have lost during my 3 day walk. Well, let's just say that I am the only person alive who can walk that many miles in such a short time frame & GAIN weight. Urgh.

Home & Product Side Effects

The 3 day walk...okay, I'm too tired & achy to talk about it yet without whining, so I'm going to just say, hi, I'm home, and we'll talk about it later, 'nough said.

But what I want to share with you is a website that fabo author Colleen Gleason pointed out. It's a skin care product line that has one of the most awesome advertising gimics going. To see what I mean, check out the side effects of using their products. http://www.seemoresideeffects.ca/
I mean, you see all the nasty side effects listed out on television commercials and print ads--isn't it about time there were some good side effects with products?? Of course, I have to warn ya, after I placed my order for Reversa products, I'm thinking they may be sold out. Bring on the side effects baby! I am so in the need for pastry & I know my lawn needs mowed &...oh, just go check out the site & you'll see what I mean. :) Seriously, I think it's a great marketing concept & hats off to their advertising department. I think I'd like to hire them to promote my next book.

Smooches until later when I feel more like myself.

3 Day Breast Cancer Walk~ off tomorrow!

Wow! After all these weeks of training, it's hard to believe that tomorrow night I'll be in Atlanta in preparation for the opening ceremony on Friday morning. I've still not walked 20 miles in a day so it's going to be an interesting weekend. Honestly, I think I can do it, though. I walked 5 miles today & then packed & prepared for being away from home for the weekend.

I'm really excited at the prospect of walking. So far I've raised $2,385 & the Parallel Heat team has raised over $19,000 total! How awesome is that????? I've still got $115 to go to reach my goal of $2,500, sooooooooo....

If you'd like to donate, Follow This Link to visit my personal webpage at the 2006 Atlanta Breast Cancer 3-Day.

I hope to have pictures next week. I'll be taking them with a disposable camera so I'm not sure what type of quality they'll be, but at least they'll be pictures. :)

American Title 3

The third round of competition for the American Title contest kicks off today. As I've mentioned in previous posts, there are some fabulous sounding entries. I can't wait to read all the first lines. :) I'm a bit biased this year as my pal Lindsey Brookes finaled with her awesome manuscript OPERATION: DATE ESCAPE. I read this manuscript prior to Lindsey submitting it to Dorchester & LOVED it. I laughed & laughed & laughed. Lindsey is the queen of comedy. :) Her entry starts out with a conversation between the heroine Kelsey & her mother. I'll let you read the first line, which is Kelsey's mom giving advice, for yourself today at http://www.romantictimes.com I think the voting information goes up around 11.

I've been lax on blogging, but it's because this is the big week of the breast cancer walk. On Thursday I leave for Atlanta & will be walking 60 miles in 3 days.

NYC photo

Here's a photo of Manhattan (to the left) from my flight home on Sunday. :)

I walked 3+ miles today. Not nearly enough. Work & children's sports & scouts interferred with more though. Tomorrow will be more.

And here's a picture of Matthew McConaughey. :)

I mentioned the article I wrote on breast cancer that's on the front page of the Rutherford Reader. Here's the link. :) www.rutherfordreader.net - page 1 the second part of the article is on page 15. To my knowledge & my dad's knowledge, my grandma has never had her picture in the paper. I LOVE that this brings her into the spotlight a bit because she's the strongest woman I know & one of the truly good people in the world. I love her dearly.

Plus, Yvonne Moon did a reprint of the Fascinating Folks article on me that she wrote back in May. Honestly, she makes me sound like someone fascinating, which is a testament to her writing skills, but all my friends & family know I'm really just me. The best part about the article is that my grandmother's photo is included. You can read that by going to page 6.

All these links will quit working -- actually, they'll link to a new story-- on October 12.

New Jersey Conference

I flew out on last Thursday, took care of some personal things, then went to the New Jersey Put Your Heart In A Book conference. My flight was delayed an hour, but they gave me a breakfast voucher so that worked out good. :) I roomed with my pal Kathleen Long & on Friday my friends Anna Sugden & Terri Garey arrived. It was so great to see friends I don't get to see nearly often enough. On Saturday I volunteered to assist with the editor/agent appointments and got to see Susannah Taylor (who I think is awesome & I first met in Knoxville when Stacey Kane, Susannah, & I went antique shopping together) and Mary Sue Seymore (who I met earlier this year leaving the RT conference when we rode on a shuttle to Orlando together). I also got to meet Judi Fennell who is an American Title 3 finalist. I thought she was really nice & loved her bookmarks. Sally Stotter who is also an American Title 3 finalist was there, but I didn't meet her as I skipped a lot of the conference stuff in preference of writing. My agent wanted me to do some revisions before my latest single title went out, so I chose to work on that instead.

I've got a picture of the editors who participated in the editor panel & will be posting a photo and info on that later this week.

On the breast cancer walk, I'm pleased to say that donations are still trickling in. Hopefully, I'll meet my new goal of $2500 raised. The Parallel Heat team has raised over $18,000.00!!! total now.

I've been walking, but over the weekend I had the bright idea to do the stairs so I wouldn't lose ground. Let's just say that going up 28 flights of stairs & back down isn't the same as walking 5+ miles. Apparently you use a muscle for stairs that merely walking doesn't touch. How is it that I know this??? Because after doing those stairs, which really didn't wind me much, I could barely move the next morning. Barely? Okay, I was groaning and moaning and tears came to my eyes when I got out of bed, but I made it. I'm still sore, but did walk today. Not my usual 5+ that I've been trying to do, but I did walk 2. 2 miles with aching calfs is my limit. I can't believe the walk is 2 weeks away & I did something so stupid--well, I can believe it, but you know what I mean.

Also, on the breast cancer walk, Yvonne Moon made it possible for me to get an article in the paper she writes for. A FRONT PAGE ARTICLE. :) How cool is that???? I'll have to see if I can track down a link to the article.

For those of you who haven't made a donation yet to the 2006 Atlanta Breast Cancer 3-Day and would like to, Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and see my latest updates! I'd really appreciate your donation (which 100% goes to the 3day walk) and I know breast cancer patients past, present, and future would. Thank you for your generosity!

Way behind

Imagine that. Lots of stuff going on with life and writing, which is how I've managed to go a week without posting. I'm working on revisions on that proposal I turned in a week or so ago. It's soooo gonna rock. Tomorrow morning I leave for New Jersey. I'm so excited to get to see my good friends Anna Sugden, Terri Garey, & Kathleen Long. :)

Also, big, big congrats to my pal Lindsey Brookes for finaling in the American Title 3 contest which kicks off on October 16th. There are lots of fabulous entries again this year! Some of the titles have me sooooo hooked. I hope lots of them sell cause I wanna read these stories. :)

Some Matthew McConaughey eye candy to keep you happy until I next post...

Another week begins...

So, how did you spend your weekend? Me? I spent Friday being Mom to my youngest who's 7 & was suffering from a stomach virus. Always fun--not. Fortunately he felt better on Saturday morning. Enough so that he went and played football. He's one of their key players & plays the entire game. I was afraid he wouldn't feel up to it, but he was awesome. After football, he went to his soccer game. We got there late, but they immediately put him in and he played for the rest of the game. Made several great plays.

Abby is a cheerleader for James' football team & also plays soccer, but she didn't have a Saturday game. The oldest two did have a game. It was actually the first game of the day & didn't go so well as our players were having an off day. Jessie is the goalie. He blocked over 25 shots, but 4 got in. Our team only had 4 goal attempts the entire game & none were successful. Not sure what was up, but this was their first loss of the season. Maybe a wake-up call to keep them on track.

Speaking of staying on track, I missed walking on Friday & Saturday. BAD, BAD, BAD. Got around 5 miles in tonight, but have got to keep pushing forward. I need to do at least 5 miles every day between now and the walk. But guess what??? My darling bud Kathleen Long donated to the breast cancer walk & put me over the minimum donation of $2200!!! Yea!!! Thanks Kath!!! :) Don't worry, I'll still be collecting donations until after the walk! :)

Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support The Breast Cancer 3-Day

They've announced the American Title Three finalists. There are ten of them again this year. There have been all kinds of rumors flying that there were only three this year. Not sure where that started, but there are definitely ten. Like the previous years' finalists, they've started a loop to support each other during the contest. I can honestly say that the American Title one & two finalists are a group of fine, fine ladies & writers and I hope this year's finalists are blest with friendships like the ones forged in the past. I particularly adore the American Title Two finalists. If you haven't checked out their group blog, be sure to do so! They'll be blogging about the American Title contest & interviewing the finalists. On that note, I've interviewed Lindsey Brooks & it'll be in a couple of RWA newsletters next month.

Articles--the article I wrote on breast cancer will be out the first week of October. :) How cool is that???? Hopefully it will raise awareness & get women to go get mammograms. Also, I mention the sister study, which I think would make a great future blog topic.

Saturday evening we took the kids to the fair for a while. Got rained out, but managed to spent $70 before the skies opened up. We didn't even play any games or eat a thing. Outrageous what it costs to take a kid for a ferris wheel ride.

Here's a picture of Matthew to put a smile on your face until the next post...

Opryland & Catch-up

Amazing that almost a week has slipped by since my last post. Going to post more Opryland pics and tonight's post will be the last of them for this trip. As you can see, the hotel is just fabulous and one of a kind...although I think I mentioned that we did have a snarfo with getting our room. Seems they've given us a complimentary night (pending availability) due to the mix-up. My hubby made reservations, yet when we got there, there were NO king balcony rooms. They promised us one with the understanding it was being cleaned & would be ready in 30 minutes & we were welcome to wander the hotel until it was ready & they'd call us. David planned for us to shower & put on nice duds & have an upscale meal, but because of them telling us it would only be about 30 minutes, we walked around looking at the waterfalls & stuff rather than going ahead and eating. After all, 30 minutes wasn't that long & we'd still have time to eat at a nice place. 2 1/2 hours later we were at the front desk asking about our room because we hadn't gotten a call. By the time we got to our room (we had to take a double bed room to get a balcony) it was only 45 minutes until our boat ride reservations so we thought we'd run to the food court & grab a quick bite. Only the food court closed at 8 and it was like 8:05 when we got there & nothing was open except for Ben & Jerry's & Christie Cookie. Now, there were still LOTS of nice restaurants & sports bars and such open, but we had to be at the boat dock for our 8:45 reservation so...we had cookies for dinner before our cider champagne. Hey, I got to have a cookie for dinner on my birthday...works for me. (okay, really I was starved, but I'm making good of the one blight on the weekend!)

This shot was taken while standing on a walkway. Remember, all these pictures are taken INSIDE the hotel. :) Beautiful!!The conference Center...guess we'll be spending lots of time here in 2010 for the RWA National Conference held in Nashville!!!Here's looking down on one of the many gazeebos. I love this shot because there was a bride & groom taking pics. You can see the bride to the bottom right of the picture.Shots from standing on the balcony of my hotel room. This fountain is amazing. It puts on the Aqua show. The water danced to music & at night it was colorful. Beautiful. We sat on the balcony watching the show till around midnight. I think that's the time the music quietened, but it was awesome & not intrusive. A great, great view.


Another waterfall.

Here's a quick catch-up:

My son crowned the homecoming queen at his school last Thursday during the ceremony.I sent my agent my new single title proposal. I'm way excited about it. It's truly one of those high concept ideas that gets you giggly inside.

Work is super busy. Enough said.

My paints and such are sitting right where I left them when I returned to work. I haven't finished my kitchen or my hallway yet. GOT to do that soon. But I'm enjoying my remodeled living and dining room. :)

I'm walking about 5 miles most days now. Haven't lost a single pound---how the heck does that work????---but I feel great & my cholesterol is doing good things. :) And, guess what!!!??? Tonight, I crossed the 2,000 mark on sponsorships!! Yes!!! Thanks to Dr. Keith Young, Marcrom's Pharmacy, Trans Med, and Butch & Eleanor Lynn!!! I only have $140 to go to reach the minimum donations!!!! :) Thank you all for helping to make my dream of doing this succesfully come true! If you'd like to donate/sponsor my walk, Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support The Breast Cancer 3-Day

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More Opryland Hotel pics

Tonight I'm posting pics from around the hotel shops & food courts, etc. There are lots of yummy places to eat inside the hotel. Enough so that I can't imagine someone not finding something to their taste. Plus there's restaurants for all budgets. In the food court you'll find favorites like Pizza Hut and sub sandwiches. There's a buffet style restaurant called Rachel's. & there's a fabulous Italian restaurant & a steak house, too. The steak house is set inside a gorgeous house. Well, it's not really a house, but I'd like it to be MY house. Love that porch! & yes, this is INSIDE the hotel in the Magnolia garden section.
A sushi bar in the distance. To the left is the rotating lounge with the yummy Pina Colada drinks.
There are lots of shops inside the hotel, too. Things from souvenir shops to nice clothing shops. Here's one of the more interesting shops. They sold souvenirs and western wear.
This is one of the nicer shops that sold glass trinkets and such. We took the picture because of its name. :)
Needless to say that if you're going to be visiting the hotel, you're going to eat well & shop till you drop without ever having to leave the building. Oh, and did I mention they have a Ben & Jerry's AND a Christie Cookie??????? A hotel after my own heart.

Opryland Hotel continued...

As promised I'm posting more pics from my romantic birthday get-away.

This is a photo of the river in the Delta center of the hotel. It's stocked with fish & all. the waterfalls that cascade into it are gorgeous. David & I took a private boat like the one you see. Only it was decorated with white mums, a white table cloth, candles, etc. Very romantic looking. On the table was an ice bucket with a bottle of sparkling cider which Captain April popped for us and poured our first glasses. Wish I had a photo, but it was dark & it didn't take well enough to make much out. :( David gave me a single red rose (see previous post for photo). We made two trips around the Delta. Was mega cool. Not sure the 15-20 minute trip rated the $60 plus tip, but it was very romantic & a once in a lifetime experience. Something I will never forget. Oh, and the boat tours such as the one shown are much more reasonably priced. I think they were around $15 a person. Well worth it.

One of the fountains you'll see on the boat tour.

Inside the river are huge catfish & carp. There may have been other breeds of fish, too, but these were the ones I saw lots of. Check out the albino catfish.

There 's a place in the hotel where you can stand behind one of the waterfalls. I poked my camera through the decorative iron bars & took this shot.
Another one of the many waterfalls inside the hotel. Nice, eh???Only walked 2 miles today because of having to work, but I'll bump it back up tomorrow. Oh, and the donations are up thanks to Dr. Mark Akins & Dr. Jeff Ryan & their $500 donation to the breast cancer 3 day!!! Totally awesome!!

Blurrrrr of a Weekend

Wow. It's hard to believe it's already Monday night. This weekend went by so fast. But it sure was a great one. Let me tell ya about it. :)

9:00 Jessie & Jacob's soccer game
10:30 James' football game
12:30 James' soccer game
12:30 Abby's soccer game
4:00 Jessie's 2nd meeting with the talent agency (which went fab, btw!)

& in the midst of all this running, my husband tells me that he's planned a surprise & I need to pack. Pack for what??? A night at the Opryland Hotel. He'd arranged a night away for my birthday (we're not going to even touch that topic since it means I'm a year older.)

As some of you may know, the Opryland Hotel is such an amazing place & where the 2010 RWA National conference is going to be held.

The only snarf with the whole stay was a problem getting our room despite having reservations. I'll go into more of that in a later post, because I want to share the good stuff tonight...well, not ALL the good stuff. ;)

While we were waiting on our room, we had drinks at the Terrace Lounge. I got a Pina Colada & David got a Strawberry Daiquari. Yummy. A really cool thing about the Terrace Lounge is that is spins. Glad I noticed that BEFORE I'd taken a drink. I rarely ever have alcohol & if I hadn't noticed I might have thought I was really off kilter. It's a slow turn, but enough that you know you're at a move.
After finishing our drinks, we wandered through the Cascades, a section of the hotel with fabulous waterfalls.

Once we got to our room, time was of the essence because my wonderful hubby had reserved a private boat to take us for a tour of the Delta section of the hotel. By a private riverboat with our river captain (hi April!), we made two rounds around the indoor river. Yep, there is a river inside the hotel. April popped the cork to our bottle of sparkling cider & we sipped it by candlelight while enjoying our ride. Very nice. Very romantic. April took the picture & I think one of the waterfalls is behind us but because of the time of night we went on our tour, you can't make it out. :(

I took a picture of the boat, but it didn't turn out. :( I do have some pictures of the regurlar river boats. I'll post those & pics of the river, etc. later in the week.

Look what else hubby did....Okay, so he gave it to me on the riverboat & I put it on the bed & took the picture prior to putting it in the ice bucket to keep it fresh. :) As you can imagine, it was a fun, surprised filled special night & a birthday I'll never forget his sweetness. Is it any wonder I write romance???

Oh, & after I got home last night I walked 4 miles. A long way from 20 but I'm getting there! Plus, donations crossed the $1000 mark this weekend! I'm so excited! I love how the names of the people who've donated roll across the screen on the donation page! It's so cool. Thanks to all my friends who've donated thus far. I'm almost halfway to my goal!!! Thank you for helping make a difference in the fight against breast cancer!!

Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support The Breast Cancer 3-Day

My son--the next Jim Carey or Johnny Depp?

Well, maybe. The truth of the matter is that he's 14 and for as long as I can recall he's wanted to work in the entertainment business. Recently, his interest has grown stronger and we've decided to pursue modeling and acting. But where to start???

1st step. Find a talent agent. This is probably going to be as difficult as landing a literary agent and I thought that was a killer. Then again, Jessie has more talent than dear old mom. :)

2nd step. Develop a resume. Okay, I have to admit when the agency he read for last night said to bring a resume, my first thoughts were, "the kid's 14. What do you mean, resume?" So I called my handy dandy friend who has entertainment biz connections & viola! my son SHOULD have a resume. Thinks like his measurements. (height, weight, show, chest, etc.) His vitals (hair color, eye color, etc.) His contact information. But also experience. Back to that 14 thing again. BUT he actually did have things to list. Acting Experience--he'd been in several community & school plays. Modeling experience: He's actually done a few ads for a local photographer. Sports: He'd played football & soccer for his school. Academic: We listed that fab presidency for the student council and the presidency of the Pep club. Also, that he's the yearbook photographer. Special Talents: We listed these out. This is where things like singing, dancing, musical instruments, voice impersonations, etc would go. We also listed things like his winning third place in a story telling competition, etc. Okay, my 14 yr old has his resume.

3rd step. Photos. You have to have photos.

Pictures are covered. :) Dana's Digital (who did my fabulous bookmarks, btw) took these wonderful shots. I'm having some of the shots blown up for my wall. yeah, yeah, I know that's not why they were taken, but come on, this is my baby we're talking about. :)

Okay, so last night he went and read for a talent agency. They had him walk a cat walk, read scripts, took his pic, etc. He goes back for a second read tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

OOOOHHHHH!!! On the breast cancer walk, good news! I'm $860 toward my goal. Plus a few friends have commented they're sending in money. THANK YOU Dr. LEON REUHLAND, Dr. MELVIN WILLIAMS, & the WOODBURY MEDICAL CENTER. :)

If you'd like to help sponsor my walk (are you sick of reading this yet???? ;) , please Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support The Breast Cancer 3-Day


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Training...

I'm off work on Wednesdays (well, from the paying job, that is.) and I always try to get more exercise in on this day since I have a bit more time. Last Wednesday I didn't get to push up my walk time any because I volunteered at Partners for Healing. But I kept my walking up each day and did a minimal of 2 miles each morning. Last Wednesday evening I walked 5 miles with hubby and then walked more over the weekend.

Today I pushed myself past the six mile marker & did 6 1/2 miles this morning. I'm hoping to go walk more this evening after my daughter's soccer practice, but either way, I'm happy that I broke the 5 mile mark. My goal is to walk 10 miles on Saturday & again on Sunday.

My hubby bought me some walking socks. Two different kinds. One I wear next to my feet and another pair made to go over them. A lady I was talking to who's done long walks in the past said she put vaseline on her feet & between her toes to keep from blistering. I'm not a major walker (big surprise, I know. ;) so this was new to me. Logically it makes sense that it would cut down on friction, but can someone tell me if it works? Or am I going to be squishing and feeling ick the entire 20 miles? Guess I should try it ahead of time to see, huh?

I also got a supply list of things to bring. Everything, including my sleeping bag, has to be less than 35 miles total. You will totally be hearing me whine about this---but I'll figure it out.

Mmmm, there's Matthew McConaughey on red carpet again. Think I'm going to chant "Follow the red carpet. Follow the red carpet." while I'm walking all these miles. At least I'll stay inspired. ;)

Cell phone telemarketers??

REMINDER ....two weeks from now, all cell phone numbers are being released
to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sale calls.

YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS

To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone:

888-382-1222

It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your
time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the
cell phone number you are wanting to have blocked.

You cannot call from a different phone number.

HELP OTHERS BY PASSING THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS!

FOR MORE INFO GO TO: www.donotcall.gov

Okay, so as a consumer, I just think this sucks that telemarketers can aggravate us via cell phones the way they do our home lines. Even with the block, I still get calls & it drives me crazy. I would never ever ever buy something from a telemarketer just for the principle of the matter that it encourages them to keep calling. Urgh. Not happy about this, can you tell???

I have visions of me walking along, hitting mile 19 of my 20 miles for the day and the phone rings. "Hi, Mrs. Lynn. This is such and such salesman, would you please buy my product." Now, there will be women I know nearby, so I'm sure I'll contain my response to some degree, but the visions popping into my mind are not pretty. Not at all.

Speaking of walking, if you haven't made a donation to the 3 Day Breast Cancer Walk yet, PLEASE do so. It's such a worthy cause.

Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support The Breast Cancer 3-Day


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Now I understand the appeal of the red carpet. ;)

Once a Contest Slu...

Okay, I mentioned a few months ago that I entered a writing contest with a couple of my manuscripts. YEA!!! They BOTH finaled!!! I got an email tonight telling me that they were on their way to the editor judge for placement. :)

After not entering a contest like this for over 18 months, I have to admit, it felt good to send something new out & for both of those new stories to final in the first time out. After finaling in over 40 writing contests, perhaps it's silly to get so excited, but I am. Validation of sorts, I suppose.

Plus, I had a readers group to contact me tonight about coming to speak with them on Jane Millionaire during October. I love doing that!! Lots of fun.

Off to work on the new one. I've got great vibes going on it & can't wait for my agent to send it out. Soon. Very, very soon.
I had to put Jude's pic up tonight, because one of the stories that finaled was my Jude book. :) Man, I love that story!!! It is so much fun. I have all these cool promo ideas and...okay, I'm getting ahead of myself. Got to sell the book first.

Partners For Healing

Usually I catch up on emails & write on Wednesdays. Today I didn't get to do that because I volunteered to work at a free healthcare clinic called Partners for Healing. It's such a fabulous place. It's a free clinic to the WORKING uninsured who live or work in the county where the clinic is located. :) I volunteered and saw patients for 4 hours today. I always feel so rewarded after spending time there. Unfortunately since I've started writing I don't volunteer as much as I once did. (When the clinic first opened I was there 12 hours a week every week for like 9 months.) Now I'm ashamed to admit how often I make it over there. That's one of the things I hope to change in upcoming months--I want to volunteer more in my community & to help others.

For me the breast cancer walk is one of those things that I feel important, too. Helping others is really helping ourselves. I believe this with all my heart.

If you haven't sponsored someone in the 3 Day Breast Cancer walk, PLEASE DO. If you'd like to sponsor my walk (even if it's $5 dollars--that helps!), Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support The Breast Cancer 3-Day
https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=131570&supId=142336017 I'm $705 in toward my goal & still hope to raise at least $1500 more.

THANK YOU & GOD BLESS. :)

Brace Yourself!

I spent my morning at the Orthodontist office with 2 of my kids. I'm now the proud mother of two metal mouths & a whole lot broker than I was when I woke up this morning. The joys of motherhood. ;) Both Abby & Jessie did awesome when getting their braces put on. They'll both have to wear them for about a year. Abby just has 6 brackets on top & Jessie has a full set.



I'm off to work on my latest proposal. Got my synopsis & blurb to my agent & I'm polishing my first 3 chapters. Going to make them SHINE before we submit--which will be SOON. :)

Friends

Tonight I'm in an introspective mood--specifically in regards to friends. I am so blessed. I swear I have the greatest friends in the whole world. Friends I am super close with and talk to every day. Friends that I can not see or talk to for weeks or months on end and then when we get together it's without missing a beat. Friends that understand me and love me despite my flaws.

Michelle Buonfiglio blogged about friends when we got back from Atlanta & posted a photo of us. It meant so much because she's such a wonderful person and a friend I made directly because of Jane Millionaire. I met several of my newest friends through their reading Jane. I absolutely adore a few of Jane's reviewer and am in the process of supervising the building of a shrine devoted to one in particular. ;)


Many of my closest friends are results of my writing career. Friends that, although we live hundreds of miles apart, are important daily aspects of my life. Friends that I can not imagine not having to call upon to chat, whine, cry, cheer, love, giggle, etc. with.

So, today's post is devoted to friends. To the ones from days gone past, the present ones, and the ones I've yet to meet. Live life large and always be the kind of friend you would love to have. Be honest, kind, caring, compassionate, uplifting, a good listener, a secret keeper, a hand holder, a tear wiper, a champagne toaster, a smiler---I could do this all night. Just as I could post pics of friends & still I'd leave someone out. Just know that tonight's post is dedicated to all of my friends--you know who you are!!!!
Anna, Terry, Tawny, & Janice!
Janice, Anna, & Kath--Three Muskateers.
I literally met this particular friend over desserts quite a few years ago in NYC.
Janice & some of the fabulous Wet Noodle Posse!!
Janice & Some of the The Writers Playground--my place to play and just be myself.

Michelle Buonfiglio & Janice (If you haven't checked out Michelle's NBC column Romance B(u)Y the Book--do it! It's awesome. Plus she has a really cool blog at http://romancebytheblog.blogspot.com She's awesome!!)
Janice & Most of theAmerican Title II & Romantic Times friends.

More of The Writers Playground friends.

Breast Cancer Article

Woo hoo! I found out tonight that I'm going to be writing an article on Breast Cancer for a local newspaper. Very excited about this for lots of reasons. I haven't decided on the exact slant I'm going to take with the article yet, but plan to work on it this weekend--in between polishing my latest single title proposal which is easily my best writing to date. I'm not sure how much that's saying, but I know deep in my gut that this story is it. My agent believes it, too. But I digress, back to the breast cancer article. It's likely going to be on the front page of the newspaper! How cool is that???? I'm hoping to raise awareness of the disease, plus raise funds for the walk. I'm $695 in have to raise a minimal of $2200. I'm hoping to raise more.

I called on a For Sale by Owner house yesterday & discovered that they'd just listed it with a realtor. The price went up $30,000. Ugh! So I went from very interested to not so interested. Well, okay, I love the house. There's 5 acres with it. The land's not quite as great as the house David & I made an offer on earlier this summer, but the house is much more to my taste. The other house backed up to a small river (more like a creek that can be waded in and the kids could catch minnows & crawdads.) and had a natural spring we could dig out for a pond. This one doesn't. The other house was also perfectly located for us. This one is a few minutes further out, but still not bad. Actually, it's closer to David's work--further from mine though. If it doesn't sell through the realtor I may go look at it in a few months, otherwise I guess this one's a no go, too. Good thing David & I are in no hurry to buy a house & move, eh? Besides, with all my remodeling, it's sorta like living in a new house already. ;)

My oldest son (the Prez) got his spacers put on yesterday and gets his braces on Tuesday. My daughter is getting her braces on Tuesday, too. Fun. Fun.

Off to write for a while before crashing. It was another long day at the office. A good day though. Night all!