I’m back!

Well, technically, I was never gone…I’ve been around but real life has been a little busy and complicated lately so I haven’t had a lot of time to blog.  The good news is that most of the complications have been good ones.  For instance…

I had my first official book reading:

I read the first chapter of my novel Next Year I’ll be Perfect at the Portland Public Library in front of an audience of about a dozen people.  I think it went pretty well.  I didn’t pass out or throw up on myself, so I’m counting that as a win, anyway.

 

Two days after the book reading…

I went on vacation:

You know all of those terrible cruises that you’ve been reading about in the news?  Well, luckily I wasn’t on one of them.  A friend and I did take a cruise, though.  We took a trip on the Celebrity Summit – we left from Puerto Rico, then traveled to St. Croix, St. Kitts, Grenada, Dominica and St. Thomas – and could not have had a better time!  The ship itself afforded every luxury, but we were barely on board since we left the ship every day as soon as we hit port to spend time exploring the island beaches.  We also stayed a few extra days in San Juan since neither of us had ever been to Puerto Rico. 

Of course, one of the best parts of vacation is that it allowed me the time to say…

I read some books:

I read four books in the month of March!  That is double the goal I set for myself.  Even better, I rated each of the books I read as five stars.  So, if you’re looking for a supernatural thriller, historical non-fiction or just a few quirky novels, check out the great reads below:

• Slashback by Rob Thurman
• Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson
• The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson
• If You Were Here by Jen Lancaster

As you may know, in my life reading goes hand in hand with TV and movies, so I am happy to report that…

I watched some movies:

While my goal for books is 2 per month, my goal for movies is 2 per week, so I fell a little behind in that category in March.  More disappointing, though, was the fact that very few of them were five stars:

• The Quartet – 5 stars
• Zero Dark Thirty – 5 stars
• In America – 4 stars
• Safety not Guaranteed – 3 stars
• Horrible Bosses – 3 stars
• Warm Bodies – 2 stars
• The Stuntman  – 1 star

My final excuses for taking so long to update my blog are less easily categorized, so we’ll just lump them into one category titled…

Miscellaneous Time Sucks:

• Sherlock started filming and I found the hashtag on Twitter where people were sharing spoilers from the set.  I seriously considered calling in sick one day to follow it.

• I received and answered my very first fan letter from a reader which was WAY cool!

• While most of the complications in the last several weeks have been good ones, I did find myself with the need to briefly wallow a bit.  If you have the opportunity to wallow on a beach in the Caribbean, that’s the place to do it.

• I got caught up in the General Hospital 50^th anniversary celebration and the corresponding marathon on SoapNet.  I haven’t watched the show in years, but there was a time when I was a huge Luke and Laura fan and it was great fun to see the Ice Princess saga play out again.

•  I finally, finally, finally started making headway on my next book!  I’ve finished the character sketches of the major characters and have a very rough outline.  Now I just need to find some time to write.

And with that, excuse time is over!  You can expect my blog to be updated regularly – at least weekly – from now on!