What do you want to be when you grow up?

The words "President of the United States" never slipped passed my lips. And neither did the words, "daughter of the President of the United States." Of course my dad being in the Air Force with no aspirations at political office helped color my response. My mom never wanted to go into politics either. But I wonder how hard that life is, being under constant scrutiny as Chelsea Clinton has been since her father was President and then her mother went on to the Senate, a run at the White House, and now Secretary of State. What about this weekend and the wedding? I have to admire Bill and Hillary for trying to make it as "normal" as possible for her. And to those out there bemoaning the money spent on the wedding...get a life! It's their only daughter and they have the money. I say let her have the wedding she wants and to hell with what anyone else thinks.

Phyllis has been so cute all weekend, though, trying to find anything and everything she can on the wedding coverage. I had to tease her a little.

But back to the original question..."what do you want to be when you grow up?" My stock answer for much of my youth until I reached high school was "an artist." Now, I can't remember the last time I picked up a pencil or a piece of charcoal to sketch anything. Which is a shame. I used to get so caught up in my drawings, holing myself up in my room for hours on end, bent over my work until my neck and shoulders screamed at me to stop. Then life began to speed by and instead, I returned to writing. Don't get me wrong, I'd always enjoyed it and had since grade school. I became more serious about writing in high school and later in college. I now find that I hole myself up in my room for another kind of art, one I enjoy once I get swept up in a story and allow the characters to spirit me away into their lives, whispering in my ear as to what happens next.

It's still an art, yes. But that yearning returns sometimes to pick up that pencil or piece of charcoal and lose myself into a world of lines, shades, and shadows. One of these days I'll listen again to that muse when she taps on my shoulder.

She's waiting....

Update on the Minneapolis/True Colors book signing

Sorry to say that Cathy Rowlands, Liz Ridley, and I won't be making it to Minneapolis and True Colors this time around (August 7) for various reasons, some of which are health-related. Phyllis's surgery on her foot was scheduled for later than we anticipated and would cut it too close to our travel up to the Twin Cities. But the three of us do hope to get together sometime soon for a joint venture. Probably in Milwaukee and *crossing fingers* maybe in the fall. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, back to my latest and writing....

Enjoyable weekend with my friend and Phyllis

A very good friend came for a visit here with Phyllis and me for the weekend. We had fun talking writing and Reds baseball. Speaking of Reds baseball, they looked good for the open of their roadtrip, then fell apart, losing four straight in Philly. *sigh* I think they're tired.

On the writing front, I'm 10,000 words into my next novel, a romance. I know I won't come up with 50,000 words for the month (our BABA writing group is doing a JulyWriMo). But as long as we're all doing just a little, it's a plus.

Hey, as a test as to who all who may be reading this blog (because I have no idea if it's anyone but me lol), write me at frodobaggypants@gmail.com for a chance to win either an autographed copy of my latest, Come Back to Me, or of my debut, Playing for First. The cutoff will be Saturday night, July 17, at 9:00 PM EST. If you have both of these books, then how about early dibs on Two for the Show, the sequel to Playing for First? You won't get the book for a while, since editing hasn't started, but I'll definitely send whoever wins a copy if that's the one that interests them. I'll take the names of those who enter and put them in a hat. Two lucky winners win the book of their choice!

Time to go get some relaxing reading in for the night.

Happy Fourth of July weekend to all you Yanks!

To everyone else around the world, it's still Fourth of July weekend, but it's not quite the same. I hope you still have a nice weekend, though. That is if there are people around the world who read this... LOL! Talk about ego!

I'm sitting here with Phyllis after working on "work work" today (formatting articles for the law journal I work for) and she flipped channels. Guess what! We found a disaster movie!! Yay!! Hahahahahaha! I love these things and have no idea why except they're so mindless and silly. This is called "NYC: Tornado Terror." Tee hee. And why is it the diasters (tidal waves, hurricanes, tornados, etc.) always hit the major American landmarks?? For example, in this one, the tornado just wacked off the arm of the Statue of Liberty.

ANYway...a nice, relaxing Saturday afternoon with Phyllis. Unfortunately, we found out she has to have surgery after all. This week we should find out when.

Enjoy your weekend...whether it's a long holiday weekend or simply a weekend!

I'm a guest "chatter" on Beth Wylde's yahoo group...

...this afternoon and tonight from 7:00 to 9:00 PM EST. Follow this link:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bethwylde/, join the group and post a question. I'm giving away autographed copies of Playing for First and Come Back to Me. Hope to see you there sometime this afternoon or evening!