Funeral for a Friend

This has been a whirlwind of a week. On Monday, we learned of my husband's childhood friend dying of a stroke at the tender ager of sixty-five. He had lived his entire life in the same house in Chicago, on the East Side, bordering Indiana.

Dennis was eight years older than my husband but influenced him in so many ways, especially in music. Dennis and his brother Joe, formed a garage style rock and roll band and called themselves Wet Sunday. My husband ran the sound board for the group and when I met him, I too got wrapped up into the band family. I was the only one who had classical training as a musician but they had way more talent than I ever did.

As we grew older, we went our separate ways. The guys argued and quit. Some got real jobs or like us, we ended up in Pennsylvania and now in Dallas.

Just recently, some of the band members got together and Dennis, who was now older and wiser, ran their sound board with amazingly new technology. They had just wrapped up a performance about three weeks ago which we missed due to a conflict of work schedules. We wish we would have taken the time to see them perform, not knowing it would be Dennis' last time.

On Monday night, we made arrangements to fly to Chicago to attend the Friday night wake and the Saturday morning services.

Tuesday, my latest book, Not Just an Act, was released. I'm very excited about this, so my emotions are like a roller coaster; down with the loss of a friend, but then again up for the release of this work.

At the crack of dawn on Friday, we leave for Chicago from the Dallas Fort Worth area to Charlotte. and then to connect to a flight to Chicago. We learn that some disgruntled employee has purposely set fire to the control tower in Aurora, IL causing O'Hare to cancel flights for about four hours. We waited and waited trying to think of options of how to get to Chicago. Do we fly into Milwaukee and drive down? Or do we fly into Indianapolis and drive in?

Finally, our flight is released to go to Chicago. We were only delayed by twenty minutes. However, when we tried to pick up our rental car, there is no car. Why? Because of the flights being cancelled, everyone has decided to rent cars to drive to their destination. After about forty minutes, we have a vehicle.

The roads were unbelievably packed. What should have been an hour drive, turned out to be over three hours. We didn't get to the funeral home until eight and it closed at nine. We barely had the chance to say good bye to Dennis.

At the next day services, we were able to have a private moment with the family and headed back to O'Hare. The traffic was just as bad as everyone returned their cars. We barely made our flight.

People ask me where do I get the material for my next story and I tell them. Live in my shoes and you will see where.

Not Just an Act

Look what came out this week! My newest book, Not Just an Act! I hope you enjoy reading it as I had as much fun writing this story!

It is another Romantic Comedy and a sweet romance based in Branson, MO. We have visited there often and find it a very charming place to explore. We have already made plans for a reunion there next year.

In addition to Blushing Books', Bethany, my editor Tamara, and Lazy Day's Staci, my cohort Jamie, I especially want to thank my friend and mentor, Barbara Huffert for all the support and publicity she has given me! You are a true friend!!!

What Inspires a Writer? Life?

My husband went on a much needed 'guys' golf trip last week. My husband is a guy kind of guy. Growing up, I always got along better with men than I did women. I had tons of guy friends. When I met my husband, I was attracted to him because he always did things which were fun and there were tons of his friends who treated me as one of the guys. I loved it! When we were first married in Illinois, we would always go fishing. I tried going with him, but it just wasn't the same. I could not eat Cheerios with beer for breakfast and if I had to pee, I just couldn't hide out in the woods. I'm squeamish about some things... Same with golf. I would go with him but there was no way I could play like he and his friends could.  I would just end up driving the cart, talking too much to the other guys who came along with us and critiquing his game. Yes...he needed time with the guys.

Now that we are in Dallas, he works with all women. As we women know, we can have our 'moods' which you can tolerate in a loved one and a best friend, but not necessarily a co-worker. I can tell you truthfully, since this in a satellite office with no boss in sight, some of these women really take advantage of their freedom. When my husband tells me of their antics, I am so tempted to go into the office and fire them myself! So without further ado, when he mentioned this trip last year, he had my total cooperation.

I took advantage of this time to write and write I did. I am deep into another sports romance and feeling really good about this work. As I work on the finishing touches of my upcoming book, Not Just an Act, I have a question to ask: How important is the Cover Art to your purchase of a book?

Book Piracy

My books have been pirated again. How can people be so nasty? Don't they realize how hard I work on these books? I hope they get what they deserve!

Welcome Football Season

Have you ever done something really simple and hurt yourself? I seem to do it all the time. Here I work out religiously for more than an hour a day. I mow our lawn, do my own housecleaning and laundry. I even iron...gasp! How old fashioned is that? ( I do 'write' via my laptop; not handwrite) but still. I think I'm in pretty good shape.

Yesterday, when I took the laundry out of the dryer, some of it fell onto the floor. When I bent down to pick it up...OUCH! I pulled a muscle on my left side right underneath my ribs. I couldn't stand up straight if my life depended on it. I hobbled to the bedroom and just stayed on the bed, inert. Finally, it felt a little better and I stood up. Nope! It still hurt like the dickens! I've had an ice/heat patch on it all night but I am moving slow today. I do not like feeling under the weather!

However, today is the first day of the NFL season. I will spend the day sitting (thank goodness) and watching the games. After the preseason games, I do not have much hope for my team but still will show my support. Since following them since 1984, you think I would be used to them losing but no. On the bright side, I haven't seen my team friends since December of last year, so I look forward to this afternoon! Yeah for football!!