Happy St. Patrick's Day

The luck of the Irish is a dubious thing, but today I'm feeling very lucky. I'm in San Diego with my family on a mini-vacation for spring break. Of course, since we're from Arizona, we are freezing to death. Isn't that a riot? 60 degrees is like sub-zero to my thin blood.

We haven't done too much--we went to Universal Studios, and that was fun, but not as wiz-bang as we expected. Plus we all live at a million miles an hour, so honestly we were tired--from my youngest child to me. Yesterday we lounged a bit, watched a movie, ate too much, went to see my husband's father who is in a nursing facility (and none too happy about it, poor guy). Today my husband plans to visit him again and then we will head over to Coronado Island. I lived in San Diego for 12 years but never made it to the Hotel Del. I've always wanted to see it so we're going to skip on over and visit.

My kids have been wonderful and this is why I feel so lucky this morning. I don't know what I've done in life to be so fortunate as to have the family I do, but I surely don't deserve them. I am blessed, to say the least.

On another note, trying to get my "In the Chill of the Night" story completed. My CP had some great ideas and I'm working them in.

Happy St. Patrick's Day one and all. May the luck of the Irish touch you in a good way today!

The departed, and other Tales from Erin's World

Where have I been? Well, as usual, moving so fast I can hardly breathe. My class at ASU is taking a lot of time. I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but it's Eng 102. That's right, freshman English. Should be a breeze for someone who's multi-published, right? Ah, think again. It's actually argumentative writing and I just really suck at it. I've never enjoyed structured writing. I don't like writing articles or essays. I suppose it's a skill I should learn because I know it's the structure I dislike so much. I wish I had more structure when I write my novels too. My good friend and cp, Lynn, plots down to the detail. Me--I get this general idea of what I want to write. With luck, I get it honed to a vision. Then I start writing.

What else? Well, I've got the deadline for IN THE CHILL OF THE NIGHT. And I'm still working on my ST and wishing I had a real life where I could dive in and write my heart out from dawn to dusk. Unfortunately--or rather fortunately, because I couldn't live without it--I have my day job. I'm fortunate that I enjoy my work, but it is hard sometimes when I'm spread so thin.

Then I have my daughter's book that I'm trying to get read so we can submit. I feel awful because it's taking me a long time to clear a space to fit that in.

Then (and this one really doesn't belong on my to do list because I'm enjoying it so much) I have Kathryne Kennedy's new book to read. She asked me to write a blurb for it and I'm so honored. It's really wonderful. I'll be posting when it comes out because you'll want to read it.

So I just realized I hadn't updated my contest page on my website. Yikes, I need to do that.

Oh, and Departed reference? I've decided I have an "older woman wife" crush on Leonardo DiCaprio. It took him awhile to go from lanky boy to MAN, but wow, was it worth the wait. If you haven't seen The Departed, go forth and watch. I loved it. Very violent, but wonderful. He's extraordinary in it.

Okay, that's all. It's a beautiful sunny day out. Hope I can keep myself focused.