Catching up and other news...

Howdy boys and girls!  How is everyone? Can you believe Summer is almost over?  How has yours been so far?  Good? Bad?  Do tell!  Mine has been hectic, chaotic, emotionally draining, productive and at times, hella fun!  These days I can be found pool side.  With this scorching weather, it seems all anyone wants to do is hit the beach and/or the pool.  I haven't made it out to Galveston yet this summer.  I know what you're thinking, "Oh gross! That's not a beach!"  or "That salty murk?"  Yeah, yeah, I know, you're not telling me anything I haven't heard before. But, it has sand (on a good day) and the gulf and seagulls.  What more do you want?  Oh and they recently added an amusement park on the pier, where a landmark hotel used to stand.  Thanks to a little hurricane named Ike, the hotel was blown away.  Literally.  So in it's place, The Pleasure Pier was born.  I think the name is stupid.  I know when I hear, "Pleasure Pier", the first thing to come to my mind, is not an amusement park.  But I digress.

Anyway, where was I? So, I went to a local grocery store the other day and would you believe they already have Christmas stuff out? Not full-fledged, just enough to make you notice.  I guess they are just teasing everyone first, giving them a taste of things to come.  WHAT-EVER.   Can we at least get past Labor Day?  Ugh.  If I had heard Christmas music playing, I would have screamed.  -Trust me, it would have gotten ugly.

Moving on.

Some of you good people, have emailed and/or sent me messages via Facebook, wondering how my novel is coming along.  Well, it's coming along.  I'm still working on the two short stories that may become one HUGE story, in addition to trying to get my first novel published.  So the second one, is not yet completely done.  But I write and I write and I write.  I'll finish it by the end of the year, that's for sure.  The short stories are what is taking up most of my time.  And driving home tonight, I got an idea for another short.  Thanks for  asking me about that.  I love your encouragement and confidence you have in me.

Tonight I attended a book signing at a small, but thriving "mom and pop" bookstore.  The author is Mark Gimenez.  He is an attorney who lives in Dallas and was raised near Austin.  He writes legal thrillers.  A la John Grisham. (Who I absolutely LOVE!)  I've read all of his books.  Every one of them has left me speechless.  I am a legal thriller book buff.  (that just doesn't sound right, does it)  So the chance of meeting him was very exciting for me!  The name of his book is: The Governor's Wife.  Here's his website, if you feel like checking him out: http://www.markgimenez.com/  I had been looking forward to meeting him all day!  Five-thirty couldn't get here fast enough!  Finally, my work day ended and I made my way to the bookstore, which luckily, was not too far from my office.  When I arrived, I went straight to the cashier and asked for my copy of his book. I had pre-ordered it, over a month ago, when I first learned he would be coming to town. With book in tow, I happily made my way to the area where Mark (What? We met, we're old friends now.  I can call him by his first name if I want to) was going to be appearing.  Well, I quickly found a seat near the front, and sat down.  I took out my phone and became engaged with the ramblings of Facebook, reading important stuff, you know, like what people are having for dinner, who checked in where and with who, or who went to the gym or why I should "LIKE" a page, etc.  The usual.  After a few minutes of this brain numbing exercise, I glanced up and noticed that I was surrounded by senior citizens.  They were all around me. Clutching their copy of the book that I had on my lap.  I was the youngest person there. Seriously.  Not that I'm bashing the older generation folk, I just found it odd that I was the only young person there.  Ha.  People often tell me that I never meet a stranger.  And I don't.  I'll chat up anyone, just for the sake of being friendly.  Tonight was no different.  I met everyone in my row and a few in the row in front of me.  We compared favorite books and discussed immigration laws and our thoughts on the new Dallas.  We didn't even notice when Mark Gimenez came out until he came over and introduced himself to our little group.  Ha!  Then he took the podium.  He spoke for about half an hour and then had a questions and answer session.  And finally, we lined up to meet him and get our book(s) signed.  Is it wrong that I felt like a school girl with a huge crush on her teacher?  Meh.  Who cares.  best.night.evah.

Well kids, it's been fun.  But I'm tired.  I hope all of you are having a good summer and will come back and visit me again.  Come on, you know you wanna.