CLEANING UP

Ok, so I've done my usual end-of-year sorting and cleaning.  Refolded the towels and sheets in the linen closet, which means it will stay that way for about 3 weeks.  Seasonal tableclothes are put away, and the tables are clean and glossy.

Not mine

I've deleted the unwanted messages and organized my email accounts (I have four) and put the old ones into slots that I need. Why I still keep some emails from 2007 is a mystery to me.  It's like I am one of those hoarders you see on t.v., only of emails.  Imagine if they be physically seen, stacked in piles all over the house.

At least they're categorized and filed away under year 2009.  My new page awaits 2010 messages from my kids, lovenotes from my husband (may sound unromantic but you'd be surprised, he's on the road a lot), pictures of my family and friends and the occasional jokes and editorial pictures from the savvy ones.  

Everything comes through the internet: The emails, work assignments, "Lake Story" columns, recipes, freelance projects, board meeting minutes, obituaries.   There isn't one thing I can't think of that touches my life in some way that isn't connected to the computer.

My "Good morning, Obama" blurbs on my facebook account has become more successful than I imagined, receiving emails asking where am I and why didn't I write one when I skip a couple of days.  Life is strange.

One of the authors of whom I am in awe and blogs I read,  is of NY Times best selling author (Sheila Kelly) who works under five different pen names and writes in five separate genres.  She has a computer for each genre. 

I've decided that's one of my goals for 2010- to be so busy with writing that I need a couple of desktops to keep me sane.

Looking forward, my "Stories From the Lake" publisher promises me my book will be released this summer, after boning me on a Christmas release for last year.  There must be a reason for that happening the way it did, so I'll let it go.

I think I'll give the standup comedy experience a rest, too, and leave the traveling to my husband.  He's better at it, and I think I'm better suited to writing comedy rather than performing it.  Although, truth be known, if the opportunity arose to perform with Linda Belt and Robin Fox (The Two Jews and a Shiksa Tour?) I would jump in the car and drive to NYC faster than a shoe sale at Loehmans.  At least my name sounds Jewish.

I'm still working on "The Doolittle Chronicles" and am in talks with an illustrator who captures their personalities perfectly.  "The Tear Jars" is still a work in progress.  I was so distraught that I hadn't been able to finish TJ, until I read Stephen King started his newest release "Under the Dome" in 1976, picked it up again in 1997 and finished it last year.

So I am hopeful.  I wish I could write about vampires, but the market is saturated.  They all have the same storyline: vampire-boy-meets-untouchable-girl-who-wants-to-be-a-vampire-so-they-can-be-together-forever.  Sorry, kids.  Nobody did it better than Lestat.

"The Christmas Wreath" is still being fine tuned:  it seems just when I close the shutters and say good night to the people in the Village of Pennacook, somebody knocks on the front door, begging to be let in.  How can I turn them away?

And for you "Plastic 7" freaks who have been prilveged enough to share my weird side, hang on. Almost done, but the Man With The Clipboard just presented me with another test subject.   "Margory" is in midway, I just need to work on her and her abusive husband a little more.  Every nasty employer I've ever had is in the form of this man, so I've got a lot to work with.

Right in the middle of all this reorganizing and categorizing, a new idea for a new story popped in my head, this time in more of a religious bent.  So, we'll see where that goes. 

My battle with menopausal weight gain continues, and realizing I can no longer eat the way and as much as I used to, has finally sunk it.   All my friends are thin, and I guess I thought if I stood next to them long enough some of it would wear off.
Reconnecting with the Ballerinas promises to be fun and productive.

The "Writing Your Legacy" class has been more successful than I could have imagined, and I am so excited about picking up where we left off in the Spring.  What a gift I have been given to hear soulful, poignant stories, shared from their hearts.

So I begin this year, 2010, with a happy heart, an open mind and an optomistic outlook.   Book tours and signings will be again shortly, more t.v. and radio appearances, too.  Maybe there will be one or two more surprises, as well, hopefully good ones.  I look forward to them because they feed my muse and help me in more ways than I can count.

I wish much love, health and happiness to you, as together we turn the page and start writing another chapter in our Legacy Note Books.   

Here we go.