Lately I think about food a lot.
Maybe it’s because I joined Weight Watchers and am recording everything from a carrot stick to figuring out how many points garlic naan is worth at my favorite Indian restaurant.
Lately I think about food a lot.
Maybe it’s because I joined Weight Watchers and am recording everything from a carrot stick to figuring out how many points garlic naan is worth at my favorite Indian restaurant.
My husband can smell wind in the air two days away. He can tell you if it’s a northerly or southerly route and how many mph it will be. He can tell you hour by hour the exact time it will arrive. He schedules his work and our vacations around windy days. He scours the weather channel like sports fanatics watch ESPN.
He’s a windsurfer.
Sometimes I wake in the middle of the night and slide out of bed trying not to bump anything that might wake the dog or my husband.
Lately I’ve been fascinated with names. Specifically what to call my husband on my blog? He actively avoids the limelight, so his real name is not an option. Mentioning him at all can be risky.
I’d known him back when. Back when I wore snappy little suits with matching heels and lipstick. Back when I applied mascara and eye-shadow. Back when I fiddled with my long blonde hair until it was perfect.
Yes, I knew him back when. He looked exactly the same, maybe better. As we stood there, beaming at the unlikely coincidence outside Starbucks, I didn’t have to wonder how I looked.
The silence is beautiful.
No one’s home but me. Well, the dog and the two cats, but they’re blissed out; asleep. I could be asleep too. Taking a nap—if I wanted.
Waving good-bye as my husband pulls out of the driveway this morning for a business trip quickly turns into one of those victory dances you see on TV when the kids leave home for college. The house is mine, mine, all mine!
After waiting long enough to be sure he hasn’t forgotten anything and might return, I sprint into his office and flip on all his computer screens. He’d be mortified to see me checking Facebook, my e-mail and my blog simultaneously. And I have other windows open to more blogs, the news, the crossword puzzle. Oh, yeah.
Here’s the thing; if I’m not writing, I should be finding an agent for my middle grade novel.
Writing to an agent to ask for representation is called querying. The elusive art of writing query letters is almost an industry unto itself.
There are books on how to write the perfect query letter plus seminars, webinars, and break-out sessions at writing conferences. How do you get an agent to notice you? Freaky-cute gifts or “Lucy and Ethyl” antics won’t cut it.
I’m questioning the smarts of a guy who shares my bed at night, is privy to my innermost secrets, and sees me in ways no one else ever does.
No, he’s not my husband, but I can explain.
This guy is a cat named Blue. (Okay, I call him Blue Blue.) We found him clinging to an icy blacktopped road a few days before Christmas on our way to visit friends. His stomach had been ripped open with his guts skimming the pavement. His claws were shredded, his pelvis broken and one of his eyes permanently marred by road burn.
Let’s cut right to the chase; my shiny, juicy, ready-to-bite-into apple this week is Plum Bananas by Michael (Mike) Christer.
I love the name. Plum Bananas. What a great idea and play on words. It’s A Guide to Life from “a neurotic, liberal, health-obsessed, social phobic vegan,” so in terms of branding himself, Mike has done a bang-up job. It’s hard to forget a name like Plum Bananas. When I first saw the name, I was a little jealous and wondered why I couldn’t come up with something so cool.
(Confession–I had to have that desk fifteen years ago… but I’m short and need a prop to get comfortable; since it cost a lot, I try.)