Another Week! Already???

Feb. 9, 2010

So much has happened since my last blog that I scarcely know where to begin. I guess I should start with my computer problems. I think they are totally behind me. Alex came out on Feb. 2 and we declared both of my printers dead, so had to buy a new one. After a week of use, I must admit that I like it a lot. It's another HP. But the best thing Alex did was to get my Word 2000 to work on Windows 7. It's been a week and no problems. Yahoo!!

On Thurs., Feb. 4th, I had my Spring Frenzy classes again. Had around 20 folks in each class. Vern and Vivian, from my local writer's group, showed up for the classes. It was so nice to have their support. The attendees were great and I managed to sell a few books.

After class, Vern and I went out for lunch. He's such an interesting man. He did try to get me riled about politics, tho. He ranted on and on about how bad Republicans are and was especially critical of Sara Palin. But, it's like I keep trying to tell him. He has his views/beliefs and I have mine. I think we are both intelligent people and we came to our beliefs over many years and experiences. There's no way we'll change each other's mind. But, I don't view that as a bad thing. It's kind of like when one political party has the white house and the other party has congress. It creates a healthy checks and balances. So it is with us voters. We need the folks with Vern's POV and we need folks with my POV. Creates stimulation and a watch dog society that keeps the general population on watch for a leader who would like to be 'king'.

Went to my Women's network meeting and was able to talk about my books. I'm beginning to know a lot of the gals so it's getting more enjoyable. Also, got some good feedback from those reading my book.

Went to the Spring Frenzy dinner show. I met some nice folks from Canada who had attended my class. They said they enjoyed it and will probably use some of the techniques I shared. Also, ran into Maggie who was my hostess for the Thurs. classes. She is thinking about writing a children's book and had some questions. I told her to keep at it, but she needs to know it's a tough market and she needs to really research the techniques the publishers are looking for. She gave me a great review of the classes. The entertainment was a quartet called the Alley Cats. They sang with no music. Lots of 50s type rock and roll. Very easy to watch and listen to them.

Friday I received an email from Peggy, a woman who attended my Spring Frenzy class on short story writing. She was concerned about copywrite. I referred her to some websites. She sent me a return email thank you for the info and for the class. She said she learned a lot. I'm so glad so many folks found it worthwhile. I sure enjoy it.

Got invited to play Bunco on Friday night at the home of an old Simi Valley friend. Sandee told all her friends about my book. Hope I get some sales out it. But, no matter, they were a fun crowd and I enjoyed the evening.

After breakfast at the Desert Hills Vol. Fire Dept. on Saturday morning, I attended the Lake Havasu City Writers Group meeting. Small crowd. And as always, the meeting at Denny's was the best part. We did miss some of old standbys like Jim, Anne, Cindie, Penny and Lois. Oh, got two young folks coming to the meetings - Matt and Kelley. He writes mainly sci-fi and she does poetry. I'm so glad to see young folks, with new ideas and enthusiasm wanting to join our group.

Sunday it was off to Quartzsite with Cindie and Joan for a booksigning at The Readers Oasis Book Store. It was lots of fun visiting with the other local authors and I did sell four books, so that was good. Dave and Nancy came down and he and Debbie did some poetry reading. We closed up around 3 p.m. and we joined the local authors and Silly Al's for pizza. We laughed a lot and had some great conversation. Debbie, her husband and her mother are so very nice and fun to be with.

Monday was a crazy day. Went to the Lake Havasu Republican Women's luncheon. Had a local speaker, but it was fun and the food was good. Then Dave and I met for our one on one crits. He really liked this last episode. Felt is was quite authentic, especially the part where Andy's wardmates think he's a jerk, but because of what he went through on Mt. Suribachi, they cut him a lot of slack. Glad it's working for him.

Then later in the evening, was our monthly Novel Group meeting. Dave made good on his decision to quit the group, so we are down to five. Overall the feedback on my 'Lita's Story - A Meandering Road' was good. The biggest negatives were too much dialog and that Joe and Michael are too good all the time making them flat characters. I'll have to think on that. Michael gets very angry in the episode I gave them to review for next month's meeting. It will be interesting to see if they see a change and if they like it.

Afterward Dave and I went to Denny's for supper. More talk about how and what we write. Always interesting to talk with Dave.

Today I went to another Bunco group and won most games! The gals are a lot of fun. Once back home early this afternoon, I worked on 'Stephen's Boys'. Andy is in a lot of trouble and Josh is about to leave the hospital to look for him. I was going to let Andy run loose for a few weeks, but I changed my mind and decided that Josh will find him soon and take him home to Maui and out of reach of the morphine and booze.

It's been a busy week. So busy, in fact, that I thought about a quote by William Faulkner. "An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn't know why they choose him and he's usually too busy to wonder why."