Journal: Busy, busy

Have you noticed people always talk about how busy they are?

Even when they aren't?

People tend to get caught up in too many little things that never really mattered. Unfortunately, those little things can dictate how our thoughts and days are spent.

Journal: Write about a person who is so busy he or she misses something important.

Author in the 'Quah

William Bernhardt visited the Carnegie Library in Tahlequah. I was impressed with the large group of people who gathered for him. The old library is beautiful and it was a great setting for a man who loves books to talk about books.

As always, he was an inspirational speaker. Whether he's encouraging people to write (and finish) a work or he's telling about his own experience in the writing field, he has a way of making people feel that they, too, can accomplish their dreams.

No Superman cape is required. Believe it or not, he claims that persistence is the trait that gets people published. Sure, talent helps. But there are a lot of talented people who never finished a book and never got one published.

Bill must know what he's talking about. He just signed on for his 31st book with Random House. His first book with them, Primary Justice, went to print SEVEN times in the first THREE months. Now that's a success story, people.

Lake Retreat

Each year, The Inklings go on a writing retreat to my parents' trabin on Lake Tenkiller. We call it a trabin because I fantasize it's a cozy log cabin, but it's just a trailer. At the end of the day, though, no one cares if it were built of toothpicks and fiberglass because it has views like this one:

This year, Sonia gave a fabulous presentation on websites that helped her get into the business. She'll provide links on her website soon, so you should check it out. Next, Martha (aka Mama) gave writing prompts inspired from a book of essays.
Dee Dee is intent, isn't she? Either I snapped this while we were sharing our journal entries or during the prompt. I like how the trees framed her.After the workshop, we ate. Lisa, Sonia and I tried to eat on the deck, but the flies attempted to steal our food so we joined everyone else inside.
Karuna and Karen arrived wearing the most adorable hats. Don't they look perfect for a day at the lake?After lunch, most of us took a stroll. Kelly and I are always willing to pause for a photo.
Even though my leg is covered in greenish-yellow bruises from an unfortunate Seadoo incident, I had a great time. The Inklings provide invaluable critiques and the retreat workshop inspires me to write something with a fresh perspective. Plus, even though many may disagree, I got a little tan!

Really. I did.

Sonia's Tour

My friend Sonia Gensler and fellow Inklings' member recently acquired a book deal with Knopf. Our writing group is so happy for her we feel like we each received a deal, too.

Sonia writes historical fiction, so we asked her to take us on a tour of her novel. I've been lucky enough to read it and was giddy to see where the story took place and hear Sonia explain hidden details not included in the book.

I've heard of Twilight tours and Harry Potter tours. Maybe we'll have The Revenant tours after the book is released in 2011.

Can anyone guess where we are?


Here is the same location years and years ago.

For some reason, no one came around when we wanted a group picture--maybe a bunch of giggly grown girls scared them away--so Kelly took this photo of the rest of us sitting on the stairs inside.

Girls of '93

I was so excited to see my friends. Katie and I've been friends since we were three. Ange, Katie and I have been friends since we were eleven. As Ange's niece says, we're definitely "best friends for freakin' life."

Lots of pics exist of us together, but I have no clue how to scan them. Below is a pic Katie sent me from a high school ski trip. As you laugh, remember we looked cool then.We went to the lake where we had a fun filled day of playing on the lake planned.

Fate, on the other hand, had something else in mind.

When we arrived, I'd left my keys to the trabin at the house. After G kindly brought them to us, we changed into our swimsuits and headed to the boat slip where our jetskis were safely waiting. We only had a few hours together and we rarely get to see each other, so we were excited to get to play. The fact that NEITHER one of the jetskis would start--even though they worked nicely the evening before--dampened our plans a bit. Oh well. We floated around in the lake and snacked and visited, which was so nice. We just didn't have enough time. We never do. I think we should plan a spa visit next time.

Here we are five years ago at our class reunion:



Journal: Write about an outing with your closest friends five, ten, or fifteen years from now. What will you do together? Where will you each be living? What did you have to take a break from in order to hang out?

Journal: Fun

Max loves water. Whether my brother spritzes him with a spray bottle or he's splashing in the sink with a rubber ducky, the kid is thrilled. He may be related to Poseidon.

We went to the lake last weekend and placed a little wading pool on the deck. Instead of wearing his cute swim trunks--with dinosaurs on them--we just put him in his Little Swimmers and let him go. (I was outvoted.)

It didn't matter, though. He didn't care what he wore. He crawled in and out of the water. Just because he could. If you look closely you can see where he sat on the deck with his wet diaper and got dirt all over his tush. Again, he didn't care.

Journal: Write about a time when you were having so much fun you didn't care what you looked like.