Happy Belated Thanksgiving! My husband came back from Florida & we had a nice holiday with my family in Dallas. My extended family wasn't thrilled about the outcome of the Cowboys game, but at least they liked the football-shaped cake I made for the occasion...and the Texas Longhorns game yesterday rocked!

Now we're home with too many things to do, but I'm killing time online (call it denial). I saw a blog meme asking you to alphabetize the songs in your current music rotation & share the first song beginning with each letter, without repeating artists. I've got an iPod so I just went by the songs that are on my iPod right now--it was kind of an interesting exercise. Here are mine:

A Campfire Song - 10,000 Maniacs
Baby, I Can't Please You - Sam Phillips
Cader Idris - Bruce Cockburn
Daddy Untwisted - Over the Rhine
Easter - Raspberry Jam
Face the Change - INXS
Gardening at Night - REM
Hall of a Hundred Doors - Trout Fishing in America
I'd Run Away - The Jayhawks
Jamboree - Guadalcanal Diary
Keeping Awake - The Innocence Mission
La La Land - All Star United
Make the Music Go Bang - X
Name - PFR
O Sole Mio - Men Without Hats
Pain of the Next - The Throes
Quadrophenia - The Who
Rabid Child - They Might Be Giants
Sad Face - The Choir
Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go - Soft Cell
Unable - Harrod and Funck
Van Diemen's Land - U2
Wait - Wang Chung
X&Y - Coldplay
Yellow is a Happy Color - Charlie Peacock
Zerox - Adam & the Ants

I noticed that the iPod puts all songs beginning with "The" under the letter T, and alphabetizes punctuation before letters (putting "I'd" before "I Am," for instance). If I correct for those things, and also correct for songs that begin with the word "A," the songs for A, F, I, L, Q, & S all change:

About Love - The Choir
(The) Face of Beauty - The Violet Burning
I Am The Sea - The Who
(The) Lady Don't Mind - Talking Heads
Quiche Lorraine - The B-52's
Sal - The Connells

It's not that I have nothing to blog about lately...I actually have so much I can't narrow it down. And no time to do it.

Some of the things on my mind lately: faith, death, relationships, and modern retellings of classic children's stories.

What should be on my mind: getting my house ready to move out of!

What I have to do now instead of blogging: take my younger son to the Thanksgiving lunch at my older son's school.

Stupidest (and scariest) thing that happened to me today: Getting my coat zipper stuck in the slot where my seatbelt buckle goes, so that I couldn't get unbuckled or get out of the car. It took about 10 minutes of concerted effort to get it out, while my 4-year-old looked on. Now the seatbelt thingy has a chip out of it, and several parts of the zipper broke off of my coat. It's always something!

As of today, my husband is in our new rental house in Florida. He starts his new job tomorrow. This is starting to seem rather real! Except of course that I'm still in Texas, with a house not at all ready to move out of, and with two very loud, active children currently making me wonder how anyone can handle being a single parent! We plan to join my husband in Florida around the end of the year (with him coming back a few times in between, I hope!).

With the upcoming move, I have approximately 83,422 things to do, so obviously I'm not doing any writing. But I did submit something this week.

I also just took a little test about my sense of humor: It says I am the Wit (57% dark, 15% spontaneous, 36% vulgar):

your humor style:
CLEAN | COMPLEX | DARK
You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat.

I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer.

Your sense of humor takes the most thought to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion.

You probably loved the Office. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test
I'm surprised I came out dark (and especially that I scored higher on darkness than 69% of women my age!). I do appreciate dark humor, but I also write some of the lightest humor around. Some of my stories are so light it has been a real liability, considering it's for YA & adult audiences! But the description is pretty much on target.

Yesterday, I read an article in Real Simple magazine about a woman's list of 100 things to do in her lifetime (though her list really only had 67 items). I was surprised to realize I'd never made a list like that, being a list aficionado myself--as a teen I was fond of the Go-Go's song "Girl of 100 Lists." Later in the day, doing a web search about something completely different, I just happened to come across the 43 Things site, where people share 43 things they want to do in their lives and track their progress. Okay, okay, I thought, maybe I'll make a list....

I tried my hand at one and only got to 14 items before I put it aside, and most of those had to do with writing or travel. I'm sure there are many more, but it occurred to me that 20 years ago, I probably could have come up with 100 in a matter of minutes. Back then, I felt I had plenty of time to accomplish anything & everything, & probably would have written down anything that crossed my mind. Now, I feel the crunch of time, & was trying to write things that I really cared about doing, instead of just things I'd kind of like to do. Plus, some of the things I would have written once (skydive, learn to juggle, swim with dolphins) just don't seem important anymore. They'd still be fun, but I won't regret it if I die without doing them. And a few I hoped to do in the near future (like having a big bouncy castle party for my 40th birthday in a couple of years) are looking less likely as I plan to leave this state. But I do want to embrace life, and really live instead of always just planning to live, so I think the list is probably a good idea!

Oh, and speaking of lists and aging...my "baby" brother turned 30 this week, and one of the things I got him was the Book of Ages 30, which is quite a fun read. At the same time, I picked up The Big 40! for myself, to figure out what I need to accomplish in the next couple of years! (But so he wouldn't feel too old, I also got my brother a Darth Tater. I adore the fact that someone came up with such a ridiculously punny product & actually managed to get it made. And of course I have one, too!)

I am moving to Florida. So let's just hope it doesn't all blow away in Hurricane Wilma this week.

Greetings from sunny Florida! We're here for my husband's job interview, which is taking place even as I'm typing this. I don't think I have enough information to comment on the job or Florida yet, so instead I'll comment on the writing conference I attended over the weekend.

Saturday I went to Austin SCBWI's fall conference. I heard talks by two editors and an agent, and got a helpful critique on a YA manuscript. The manuscript I submitted has been critiqued many times (in different incarnations--this was a brand new rewrite but still retained much from the old versions), but this editor made points no one had ever made about it before, and they were definitely points worth pondering! In addition, I was gratified that he made it sound like my original vision for the manuscript could work. I had changed some things to suit what I thought was more acceptable or marketable, and some of those changes were the very things he questioned. I've tried to tell myself for years not to sell myself short, and I felt like I got some validation for following my own vision. Meanwhile, he gave me food for thought about some other aspects of the manuscript I hadn't thought about before!

The rest of the conference also had some great moments. I loved the encouraging talk by the agent, really enjoyed the lunch from Chango's, got helpful information at the round tables, was excited to win a door prize of theatre tickets, and particularly loved getting to meet a few online friends I'd never met in person before--Jessica, Kay, & Pam! (Hi to Kay's friend Susan, too!)

I finally read Dunk today, after checking it out weeks ago. I really enjoyed it...I'm glad I didn't accidentally return it without reading it, like I thought I had! Although the plot is unique, it's thematically similar enough to a couple of my YA manuscripts that it was a really helpful read for me.

My mind has been on a million things. I took some winding paths through Wikipedia yesterday & today, reading all kinds of things that gave me food for thought and possible fodder for my writing. With a continued possibility of moving & my immediate future up in the air, I haven't felt able to concentrate on any one writing project, but I've brainstormed (or should I say "thought-showered"?!) about tons of them. Lately it's mostly been about the novel idea I would probably pursue for NaNoWriMo if I'm not too overwhelmed to participate this year, the one I was going to call This is the End. Now I'm thinking a better title might be Closure, but I already have another project with a very similar title, so I haven't gotten any...um, closure on the topic.

I got the latest issue of ByLine & was a little bummed to find an article about what writers can learn from actors. Bummed because I had just been planning to write an article on that topic myself! Mine would be different enough that I may do it anyway, but ByLine was where I thought I'd try selling it. Meanwhile, I also got the latest Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market (CWIM) & a book called Story Structure Architect, kind of a compendium of plot types, character archetypes, etc., that I hope might help me with my plotting difficulties. So far, I find it rather daunting--though very attractively designed! (I love the rounded corners of the book and the skewed o's in the headline font...I can't say as much in favor of the CWIM's design, but at least its content is useful as always! They could publish the CWIM on a paper towel and I'd probably still buy it.)

Lucky me, I got to see the ever-talented Lisa Wheeler at my son's school today! I first met Lisa online 8 or 9 years ago (!), and took her fantastic picture book workshop here in Austin this past March. She lives in Michigan, so I was surprised but delighted to find out she'd was doing an author visit at my son's school, of all places. She mentioned that it's already snowed in parts of Michigan this fall (!!), so I'm sure she wasn't thrilled to come experience the record-setting streak of triple-digit temperatures we've been having here (it was officially 107 yesterday, though my van's outside temperature gauge registered up to 112 at one point...)., but I'm glad she braved the heat, as it was a treat to hear her speak.

I'd never seen an author's school presentation before, so I was very curious. I went to the presentation my son attended, for 1st graders, then stayed on to hear her presentation for 3rd & 4th graders, which was completely different. She did a great job, with lots of fun props & stories, & I found out I'd have to get a lot braver than I am now if I ever wanted to do school visits myself someday! I have no problem acting a part on a stage in front of people, but having to command the attention of 100+ first graders and their teachers while speaking as myself seems really scary! I bought a copy of her fun book, Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum, had her inscribe it to my kids, & snuck it into my son's backpack while he was at lunch. He was excited to find it there. He read it to himself on the way home, & I read it to my four-year-old when we all got home. I highly recommend it as a read-aloud book. I was also amused that Lisa got the idea for Sailor Moo while eating at Wendy's, since I've had an article published myself about how many of my ideas have come while eating fast food! (Hmm...think I should go to Wendy's tonight?)

Thank goodness Hurricane Rita didn't cause the kind of destruction that was feared! I hope everyone who stayed in the affected regions is okay. We stayed up until almost 4 am watching the live coverage, but were relieved to get up and find nothing worse reported than what we had already seen.

As if I didn't already have too many writing ideas, today my husband & I came up with a concept for a humorous chapter book series, possibly mysteries but maybe just funny stories. We don't have actual plots, but came up with several titles and ideas. We cracked ourselves up, anyway.... I've just been experimenting with the possible voice for the books, trying to figure out whether first person or third might work better, and much more importantly, whether the main characters should be animals or people! It's certainly easier to write about people than animals, but the animal idea lends itself to more zaniness. Then if they're animals, we'd have to decide if they live in human-type homes, animal-type habitats, or what. It's crazy to even entertain this idea when I've got so many other projects, so it'll probably go on the back burner, but it seems like something that would be really fun to write. We read so many chapter books and chapter book mysteries to our kids that I'm at least much more familiar with the genre than I was a year or two ago. We're also considering collaborating on them, which is a weird idea in itself!

I also wrote more notes today for my possible children's play idea. That one poses some problems, too--should it be written for child actors or adult actors? I suspect it could make a difference in the size of the cast. I'm leaning towards a large cast, though that might make it hard to market.

So I didn't win an SCBWI work-in-progress grant. Again. I always think these things won't bother me because I don't expect to win anyway, but they usually bother me anyway. I feel like a poser right now, for being at this so long with so little to show for it.

I can't believe another hurricane is coming. We may get storms from it even here, 4 hours north of the coast. Rita, Rita, go away! Dry up now, don't hit the bay!

The biggest news at our house this week was my older son, who turned 7 last month, finally lost his first tooth! It wasn't even loose until a few hours before it fell out. His 4-year-old brother drew him this picture to commemorate the occasion:


For bedtime reading that night, we read two books about loose teeth or the Tooth Fairy (who did find our house that night), and I shamelessly shared a poem I'd written about losing teeth. (Still seeking a market for that one....)

Second biggest news was that my younger son started his 4's preschool class on Monday. It's a new school for him, but he seems to really like it so far--on Thursday, he asked how many days until he could go back.

Third biggest news was that Wednesday was my husband's & my 14th wedding anniversary. We had other obligations in the evening, but while the kids were both in school, we celebrated with a morning date at a 24-hour bowling alley (fun!), followed by a nice lunch at Hill Country Pasta House.

At the library this week, I checked out about 15 books for the kids, plus 2 for me: Dunk by David Lubar, and Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta. I've read a bunch of the books for the kids, but we'll see if I can get to the ones for me!

I'm so impressed with Austin! We went to the Care for the Coast donation drive at the grocery store Friday, & they already had huge trucks and containers FULL of donated water, food, & diapers, with people driving up to bring more all the time, & that was only one of multiple donation sites. Meanwhile, several thousand hurricane evacuees have come here (including a new boy from Louisiana in my son's first grade class today), and an apartment complex opened some units to house evacuated families rent-free for a while. They were soliciting donations of basic living supplies, furniture, cookware, etc., for that complex and possibly some others. We took over some donations on Saturday, & planned to take another van load on Sunday, but they reported they were FULL for the time being, with nowhere to store any more donations! We figured we'd donate another load to the city's official donation drop-off location this week, but today the newspaper reports that the whole 400,000 sq. ft. warehouse is also full! So they're only taking cash for now (Austin residents--check the Austin Freecycle forum for updates on where to make non-cash donations). My local SCBWI group is also collecting book donations for evacuees this Saturday, my son's school is collecting necessities, there's a benefit concert planned with Willie Nelson headlining, and there's a city job fair for evacuees here this week. I'm sure it's not just Austin...I've heard such stories all over the net, and seen people on all my online groups just looking for ways to help. With all the negativity and blame being passed around, it's heartening to see this kind of response! (And props to celebrities like Macy Gray & Sean Penn for actually volunteering in person, instead of just criticizing relief efforts from a comfortable distance.)

For most of the past week I was too horrified by the hurricane to even think about writing, or to read anything but news and message board posts. For Labor Day, I decided to take an escapist break and finally read David Lubar's novel Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie. I really, really enjoyed it! I'm glad I took a chance on buying it instead of waiting to check it out at the library. When Cynthia Leitich Smith blogged about this book, she mentioned she'd never been a high school freshman. Same here--my high school started with 10th grade, and I don't recall a class caste system as such, so I didn't really relate to the freshman experience aspect. Yet on another level, just being human and having lived through high school, I related to so much of it! And special kudos to David Lubar for mentioning Dorothy Parker's excellent, snarky story "The Waltz," one of my favorite short stories ever. I once did a reading of it at a speech tournament. David Lubar also has some hilarious humor on his web site, including a Young Adult Novel Kit I just saw yesterday that made me laugh so loudly that my 7-year-old asked why I was laughing and I couldn't explain.... I also love his guide to literary fiction (a must if you've ever tried to write it, as I have!) and his aptitude test for potential book reviewers for "Carcass Reviews." (He's also got a daughter named Alison, so that's got to count for something!)

Anyway, the book was a welcome diversion, as well as thought-provoking and even somewhat educational. But as I got to the end, it brought me right back to reality with a passing reference to New Orleans on the penultimate page (penultimate being one of the narrator's favorite words). Who could have imagined that the mention of a concert in New Orleans would sound jarring enough to send a shudder down my spine, mere weeks after the book's release? So strange. I hope it doesn't sound jarring this time next year. I only went to New Orleans once, for the World's Fair in 1984. My souvenir of New Orleans was a pair of ceramic comedy & tragedy masks I bought in the French Quarter. It seems almost eerie now, thinking of that tragedy mask as a symbol of New Orleans. But comedy and tragedy are interwoven, and in the city where, as Rick Bragg wrote so eloquently this week, death has long been faced with music and humor as the saints go marching in, I hope the smiling comedy mask comes out triumphant, as the people of the region rebound and have the last laugh.

I read on someone else's blog that this is Blog for Relief Day for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. So, I'll join in the urging for everyone to help however they can. Here are direct links to the hurricane relief donation pages for the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross. Of couse there are many other wonderful groups you can donate through...I chose those two because they already have so much help organized, mobilized, and underway in the affected areas. Note that both sites are very slow today, which I hope is an encouraging sign that they are being bombarded by donors!

Here in Austin, a Care for the Coast relief drive is going on this Friday, September 2, from 6 am to 6:30 pm at the following H-E-B locations: Hancock Center (41st at Red River), Highway 620 at Anderson Mill, Highway 71 at Bee Caves Road, 500 Canyon Ridge Drive, and also at the Capital Area Food Bank at 8301 S. Congress. They are asking for donations of these five items: peanut butter, canned meat & tuna, granola/cereal bars, water bottles (consumer size), and diapers. The Capital Area Food Bank will also collect monetary donations at those locations. And here's a long list of other donation drives and ways to help in the Austin area. Please turn out to donate for those in need!

Meanwhile, I'm feeling nearly physically ill seeing and contemplating all the devastation, and I'm not at all encouraged about the prospect of moving my own family to the (Florida) Gulf Coast!

I survived my son's pirate party--barely!--and even managed to make this cake for him (I cropped out the busy background):


I wrote some little poems for treasure hunt clues, & to my surprise the kids clamored to read the clues aloud. I think that was the best part of the party. (The treasure they found was a piñata.)

My son has also survived 7 days of first grade, & seems to be thriving. Even the early mornings haven't been a problem yet! I am very happy with our public school, and with his class and teacher. Meanwhile, my husband interviewed in Florida & apparently did pretty well. He'll probably go back for a second interview, in which case I'd probably go with him to check out the area. But I'm not in a hurry for any decisions to be made! He brought me a flamingo figurine to commemorate my picture book manuscript about flamingos, which I need to submit somewhere soon.

Tomorrow I'm really busy, but as soon as I get a chance I plan to read Sleeping Freshman Never Lie, by David Lubar.

Well, I felt horrible when I got out of bed this morning, but I didn't seem to have a fever. Now, however, I do, and I feel even worse. Yuck! But it's not all bad...chilling in bed all afternoon gave me time to read the whole novel I bought earlier today! (If you're interested, the "pretty girl capital of the world" is none other than here in Austin. Cool!) And in a complete non-sequitur, I won a charcoal grill & smoker by sticking my e-mail address in a drop box at Whole Foods this week! I must have been the only person in Texas who has had a backyard for years but has never owned a grill, so I really wanted one. And I won it only 2 days after entering. Hooray!

I just got back from the monthly Austin SCBWI meeting, where I heard author Brian Yansky speak about what characters want, and how their yearnings drive the story. I was late, unfortunately, because I can never remember where the turn-off for the bookstore is...but what I heard of his talk was helpful (it already gave me ideas for strengthening one of my manuscripts), and I bought a copy of his YA novel, My Road Trip to the Pretty Girl Capital of the World, which I've been wanting to read for a long time. I also got to meet Varian Johnson in person, which was nice after meeting him through our blogs!

Lately I’ve been busy planning a pirate party for my son’s birthday next week, and getting him ready to start first grade on his birthday. He’s changing to public school from a small private kindergarten, so it’s going to be a big change. (It also starts at, gasp, 7:45 am! I don’t think I’ve even seen 7:45 am in months!) My younger son doesn’t start preschool for a month after his brother’s school starts, and that may drive us all crazy! He hates when his brother has somewhere to go & he doesn’t.

Of course, the whole preschool thing may be moot because my husband is interviewing for a job in Florida soon! I'm trying not to think about it, especially since an interview doesn't necessarily mean a job. But I've lived in Texas all my life (except for 6 months as a baby), and planned to live in Texas for the rest of it, so it took us a while to decide to go ahead with the interview. Today, though, I was thinking a big change might be just what I need. But I'd also have to sign up for a frequent flyer program for frequent visits to Texas!

I got the new issue of Once Upon A Time with my article "In With The Old" in it. Fittingly, it arrived right around my birthday! (But my mom served my cake on Strawberry Shortcake plates, so I must not be too old...right?! Never mind that I was already too old for Strawberry Shortcake when she was first introduced!)

A week & a half ago, I had to submit a manuscript for critique at the October Austin SCBWI conference. I was stymied. I first thought of submitting a picture book, but doubted it was the best fit for the critiquer. Then I printed out first chapters from 3 different novel projects, to see which one I wanted to submit. I had several versions of the first chapter of Can't Beet It and had never been happy with any of them, so I stayed up pretty much all night rewriting it. While I liked the new version better, I still felt it wasn't quite right. The next day, I was leaning towards Purple Panic, but asked my husband to look at all three first chapters and tell me which one caught his eye most. He voted rather strongly for Can't Beet It--he really liked the rewrite--so that's what I ended up submitting, to my surprise.

A few days later, I dreamed that the regional advisor of our SCBWI chapter showed up at my door, telling me she'd sent all the other critique manuscripts but had lost mine. I told her it was no big deal, and that the critiquer couldn't have read them all yet, so I'd just Fed Ex mine right away. She looked unhappy with that, and I suddenly noticed she actually had my manuscript with her. I realized she hadn't sent mine because she thought it was so bad that it reflected poorly on our whole chapter, and she would rather the critiquer not see it! I told her it had once been recognized in a contest (true) and that I had 4 other manuscripts I could send if she didn't like that one...but in the end I was going to Fed Ex it and pay to send it myself, and was sad she was so disappointed in my manuscript and in me as a writer. In real life, I got word that she sent all the manuscripts, including mine, but this dream sure brought out my writerly fears!

The day I took my manuscript to her in reality, I told my kids I was going to deliver a manuscript to someone from my writing group, and we had this lovely conversation:

6-year-old son: "Is it going to be published?"

Me: "I don't know. An editor is going to read it and tell me what he thinks, and maybe if it could be published."

4-year-old son: "I think it will, because you're a good writer."

Big praise from a little person! I didn't know my 4-year-old even realized what "published" meant or that it had to do with being a good writer, nor that he had an opinion about my writing, but he definitely knew how to warm his mother's heart!

I've been tagged by Varian Johnson...I feel honored! I had no idea what tagging even meant until I did a search. Looks like I'm supposed to answer the same questions as he did in his blog entry, then tag 5 more people...kind of like a chain letter without any dire warnings about what will happen if I don't do it! I'm game:

20 years ago – I was 2 days away from turning 18...so now you know how ancient I am! I was working at a movie theater popcorn stand, I had recently totaled my first car, and I had already finished one crazy year of college at UT-Austin and was about to go back for another. It was a completely bizarre summer, as anyone I knew that year can probably attest to.

10 years ago – I'd been married for nearly 4 years & had lived in Austin (again) for 2. I'd had my first publication 8 months earlier. I was working as a tech writer at National Instruments while my husband worked on a master's degree in history. We made some good friends through a grad student reading group that year. Also made my first web page, and I still haven't updated my 10-year-old HTML skills!

5 years ago – I was staying home with my first son, then nearly 2 years old, and pregnant with son #2. I started the novel Can't Beet It I'm still working on! (It goes on & off the back burner regularly.)

1 year ago – Mom of two young boys, still writing...about the same as now!

Yesterday – Missed church, ack. Ate at The Black-eyed Pea for the first time in at least a year, yum. (Son #1: "This is the best turkey I've ever eaten." Son #2: "I can't imagine anything better than this!" Wow.) Shopped for gifts for the two kids' birthday parties in a row we're going to next week.

Tomorrow – We're going to my hometown of Arlington to celebrate my birthday on Wednesday.

5 snacks I enjoy – Popcorn, Twix bars, ice cream, powdered mini donuts, Munchos potato chips

5 bands I know the lyrics to most of their songs – MOST of their songs? I'm not sure if any fall into that category! There are plenty of albums I know most of the lyrics on, though. See my way old (circa 1998 or 1999, that is) music web page for a few clues to my tastes.

5 things I would do with 100,000,000 dollars – Tithe, pay off debts, buy & furnish a house (I currently want one with a game room and soda fountain!), travel, support causes I care about.

5 locations I’d like to run away to – New Mexico, Wales, Greece, Canada, California

5 bad habits – drinking soda constantly, staying up too late, hitting the snooze alarm too many times, skipping breakfast, misplacing things

5 things I like to do – write, act, enter contests, go to amusement parks, hang out on the Internet

5 TV shows I like – 5? I don't watch that much TV...though I do watch Survivor most seasons.

5 famous people I’d like to meet – Madeleine L'Engle (my dad has met her but I haven't!), Kevin Henkes, Louis Sachar, Steve Martin, Owen Wilson and/or Wes Anderson (they were both at UT while I was getting my film degree, but they went on to get nominated for Academy Awards in screenwriting while I...um, didn't). And let me sneak in Lance Armstrong since he's a hometown hero!

5 biggest joys at the moment – Laughs & hugs from my family, the funny & smart things my kids say, my iPod (pathetic but true), getting some things in order around the house, making breakthroughs in my writing

5 favorite toys – My long-lost Fisher-Price castle, my Humpty Dumpty pillow doll (my kids have them, too!), my long-lost Fisher-Price Main Street, Legos, & the rubbery spiny echidna toy I bought myself at Toy Joy! I'm also keen on my kids' Fisher-Price Fun Park with a loopy roller coaster we like to run Hot Wheels, & somewhere I have a great blue mouse puppet that sticks out its tongue and squeaks.

5 people to tag – Most people I considered tagging have already been tagged with this! I'll tag Pam Calvert, wry_tang in Australia, and taking an idea from Linda Joy Singleton's 7/30 entry...if you're reading this, tag, you're it!

I got a note from Austin writer Chris Barton, who had noticed I hadn't updated my blog for a while. I appreciated that anyone had noticed my blog in the first place! I haven't done much online at all lately, and I don't know why, except perhaps that I've been spending way too much of my computer time playing Mah Jongg...I got my best score ever tonight, so maybe I can stop now and blog instead! Here's what else has been up:

Writing: I got a notice that my article, "In With the Old," is in the new issue of Once Upon a Time, due to arrive in subscribers' mailboxes any day. I also have to return my contract and some minor revisions for my pieces in the upcoming Summer Shorts anthology from Blooming Tree Press. And most pressing, I need to submit a manuscript for critique at an upcoming conference. I got a highly coveted critique spot, and now I'm panicking about what to send. Many of my manuscripts have already been critiqued since I last revised them, so I don't think I need more critiques on them yet. But my other manuscripts seem wrong for the critiquing editor. I'm having nightmarish visions of the editor hating my manuscript so much that it permanently damages my reputation as a writer and gets me blacklisted...or at least disliking it enough to sigh at me with disdain and wish bitterly that conference critiques weren't part of the job.

Reading: Today I started The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon...it's due back to the library tomorrow so I need to hurry through it! I also read a bunch of books to the kids. The two most fun were The Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller and Alphabeasts by Wallace Edwards. They both have art that demands to be studied.

Listening: I keep wanting to hear They Might Be Giants' first (self-titled) album, especially "Everything Right is Wrong Again" and "Don't Let's Start." After 19 years, this album still amuses me greatly every time I hear it.

Watching: In between the stacks of chapter book mysteries my almost-7-year-old son is plowing through this summer, we've been reading some of Jon Scieszka's Time Warp Trio books, so he is happy there's a new Time Warp Trio TV show. (And while Sam bears a resemblance to Harry Potter, he looked the same in the books, which predate Harry!) He's also thrilled there are finally new episodes of Cyberchase this week. As for me, I watched the 1939 movie of Wuthering Heights the other night, with Laurence Olivier. I'd seen it before, and read the book, but I was struck by what an odd story it is. I kind of wanted to tell Heathcliff, "Just get over it, man. Move on!" I'm also weird enough to like Stella on Comedy Central. And I watched Mike Myers on Inside the Actors' Studio last night. I was impressed that he wrote the Wayne's World script in 3 weeks. I wrote a novel in 3 weeks myself, but Wayne's World was a hugely successful movie and my novel manuscript is still floundering nearly 3 years later...and speaking of 3, it's 3:30 am, so I need to get to bed!

My Can't Beet It manuscript has been bugging me for years, since I can't seem to get the right voice, or tone, or something. Some people have suggested I make the protagonist younger, but the plot requires him to be older, & I haven't come up with a way to change the plot & still care about it. I've considered changing the protagonist from the guy, Dan, to the girl, Whitney--either putting her in his role, or keeping them in the same roles & telling the story from her POV, but neither change works at all. Today I had this chain of thoughts:

1. Hey, maybe I could keep Dan as the main character, but let Whitney narrate the story! I don't know if that could work for YA, but seems like it worked in The Great Gatsby & Moby Dick...of course, Dan doesn't die in the story, but could be interesting...


2. I'd still have to let him talk some. Maybe she could interview him, or he could butt in to tell his side. Might be worth trying as an exercise, anyway.


3. Maybe I should just write the story as a screenplay. I've started it as a screenplay before & I still think it might work. Too bad it would languish forever & never get made.


4. I have a film degree...wouldn't it be cool if I could make a film of it myself? Write and direct or produce it or something?


5. No way could I line up all the actors & locations & all that stuff. I'd need permission from a mall to use their food court! Too bad it wouldn't work at all as a stage play, because with stage plays you can use almost anything as the set.


6. Maybe I should just write stage plays instead. I still have theatre connections. What could I write about?

So now I have three pages of notes for a possible children's play with a fractured fairy tale theme! I think it would be really fun, so I just may write it. Now if only discipline came as easily as ideas.