The Traveling Blogger

I came to Los Angeles with a friend who needed to attend a conference (just in time for a record-setting heatwave so that was grand too). I had a couple of things to take care of so it sounded like a great idea in the planning stages. She has a GPS unit for which she downloaded a map update so the nice lady who talks you through traffic and freeway nightmares had the latest information. If you deviate from her kindly instructions, she'll say "Recalculating" and you're on your way again. But the GPS lady takes special pleasure from confusing me if I'm driving alone. Or maybe she gets confused. In any event, both mornings I've dropped off my friend at her conference in Century City and tried to make it back to our hotel--I've gotten trapped on the same cloverleaf both times. Around and around I go while the soothing voice in the unit stuck to the windshield with a suction cup says, "turn right, then turn right." I keep seeing the same street signs--Avenue of the Stars, Olympic Blvd. West, Galaxy, "turn right, then turn right." And I'm trying to travel only a half-mile! My response to her wasn't as soothing and polite.

Finally, after the third time I purposely ventured down to Santa Monica Blvd. and made a few right turns till I got into a dead-end cul-de-sac kind of thing that Fox shares with their neighbors across the street. I thought it might break whatever loop she might have gotten herself (and me) stuck in. "Recalculating." It seemed to have done the trick. After she regathered her wits, I got better directions and saw my hotel in the distance.

Disneyland is the next big destination--I'll be interested to see how that goes.

The Accidental Blogger

Not the most dependable blogger on the net, huh? I got caught up in ongoing family mini-dramas, friends’ major tragedy, a hair-coloring incident that went from wrong to way wrong and has now made me a redhead (despite extensive attempts to change it) and proofreading and brushing up on my high school French. In ’tween times I’ve also been busy writing, trying to stay on top of the rapidly morphing e-book trend, and reading for fun and for my continuing writing education. In addition, I'm updating the covers of my OOP-turned-e-book backlist. I needed a true professional's help; only a couple of the ones I created weren't dog's-butt ugly.

At this moment though, I’m taking a breather to sit down and chat with you. While Josie, my surviving cat, munches down on Whisker Lickin’s salmon treats beside me, I’m savoring the ambrosia of that wonderful Irish treat of my own, Bailey’s.

What I’m reading right now: Catching Fire, the second book of The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. It’s a wild ride of danger and survival in a dystopian land that once was America, but now seems more like Nazi Germany with futuristic technology. This is the third YA series I’ve read. If books like these don’t make readers out of young adults, I don’t know what will. They are gripping, imaginative, fully developed stories, genuine page-turners.

On Saturday, I’m going to LA for a brief conference, but I’ll be back in time for the Book Club Babes to ride again. I guess the question of my Halloween costume this year is partially solved. I’ll be going as a red wig.

Stay tuned, most especially as November draws near. I will have a very special surprise for you, a combination holiday gift and a way to thank you for your interest and support.

Now, to get ready for the strip-search and citizenship test one needs to take these days to get on an airplane. This is really a case of the destination being more fun than the getting there!