Hi ho, MMMLogerinos!

I just watched the shuttle launch. What an incredible thrill! I don't recall having felt so enthralled by one of these launches previously. What added to my excitement was watching the images from the camera mounted on the fuel tanks. WOWOWOW! When they separated and fell back toward Earth, I was stunned and amazed at the flawless functioning. I wish the mission all best and a happy, safe homecoming.

I'm prepping for the RWA conference, which occurs each July, and I'm thinking how this time of year has come to mean a general sort of spiffing up for me--in thought, production and appearance, even. Back in the day, a couple of weeks before conference I used to be able to drop about ten pounds easily. No more. They're not leaving; it's too good in MMMMMland.

LESSONS FROM WASPS
Like all writers, published and unpublished as well as other creatives submitting to a market, you win some, you lose some. It can seem the world would rather you just quit and move along, move along. And you can sure feel like that, too. But take a lesson from the wasps that build their nests under the eaves of your house. Hang in there.

Last evening we were sitting on the terrace, enjoying a glass of wine apres dog walking while the halibut grilled on the barbeque. I looked up at the sky, where my vision seems to always go, and saw that the wasps were zooming back and forth to two golf ball size "paper" nests at the peak of the eave that the DH had sprayed and knocked down only a week earlier. He'd used a minty fresh wasp shot that is nonpoisonous but the wasps don't like so much and knocked the nests down with a very long pole. Then stomped the hell out of them.

And now they're baaaack.

Talk about tenacious and single-minded. Those wasps have a job to do, a home to build, and young to tend. No catastrophic knock down is going to stop them for long. They regroup, find direction and a new snaggy bit of wood to attach to near their old home and rebuild.

Okay, say you get a wretched rejection letter. You're knocked back on your heels that someone you wanted very much to like your stuff doesn't. You might fall into a dark, disorienting slump and actually begin to think maybe they're right. You should just fly away while you still can. But after a good bit of chocolate, commiserating with your fellow creatives, and whatever else you need to do to feel better, you begin to think about going on. Should you fly far a field and find something totally different to do? Or should you stretch out a bit where you are, find a new orientation within familiar territory and start rebuilding? Whatever you decide, the important thing to remember is, the wasp shot may smell minty fresh but it still carries a powerful punch that may persuade you to drop out of the nest so someone can stomp on you. Or you can get out of range, rethink and regroup, then come back with a new determination and rebuild as many times as it takes to reach your goals.

Just remember, there's always gonna be that guy with the can of wasp shot and a long pole. So, maybe it's all about resiliency and what you learn along the way.

I'll MMMMMlog again July 31 when I return from Reno and fill you in on all the conference stuff.

Ciao, ciao, MMMMMMMMMMMMMmelinda

Hi ho, MMMlogerinos!

NEW! NEW! NEW! NEW! NEW!
MMMMM is headed for the RWA National Conference in Reno on Wednesday to catch up with old friends, get a little face time with some industry folks and see who wins the Romance Through the Ages contest. My Spanish western historical,The Spanish Blade is a finalist in the western category, so your good thoughts are appreciated. Since I'm not a gambler our joint account is safe and baby doesn't need a new pair of shoes . . .which calls to mind the gambler's prayer that the sissy-in-law of MMMM, who also grew up in Las Vegas, taught to me: Please God, let me break even. I need the money!

THE SON OF MMMMMMMM CLIMBS MT. FUJI
Speaking of baby--my son called this weekend after his trip up Mt. Fuji in Japan. He reports that at the bottom of the trail they sell walking sticks that climbers can get stamped at each station on the way up. He got his all stamped and wore regular athletic shoes making the 13,000 plus climb. At the top, climbers can look down inside the crater of the volcano, which he reports wasn't active. Though when they were at Disneyland Tokyo the next day a 6.7 earthquake shut the park down and they had to leave. The lines to the taxi stands were three hours long and the son bypassed the wait by going out into the street and jumping in front a taxi slowing to drop a passenger. Such a can-do action guy!

Ciao, ciao, MMMMMMMMMMMMMMelinda

Hi ho, MMMMLogerinos!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Just as we're about to enter Mercury Retrograde, this interesting thought comes to us from our beloved sissy-in-law, Suzanne:

Some people are like Slinkies. They're really good for nothing. . .but
they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of
stairs.

Ciao, ciao, MMMMMMMMMMMMMelinda, staying clear of stairs . . .

Hi hi, MMMlogerinos!

A COMPANY PICNIC
The DH's employer threw a huge party yesterday at a farm in North Bend, WA that has been converted to host huge events. It started at noon and as usual mid-July in the Pacific Northwest the weather was sunny and warm. When the sun comes out the clothes come off of Seattleites and the mass of white flesh is blinding! Over 2000 people turned out in shorts and tank tops, a few hats but lots of sunglasses. The announcer kept telling people that there was every kind of sunscreen at the first aid station, but few, that I saw, availed their cream-going-red-colored selves of the opportunity not to burn and blister. The DH and I did, though, because we drove topless Red Therapy so had a jump on all that UV.

There must have been twenty food booths set up that offered everything from hamburgers and hotdogs, ceasar salads, barbequed salmon, strawberry shortcake, several kinds of chicken, curry, vegetarian burgers, ice cream--all kinds of picnic fare. Yummy!

The kazillion kids had a great time at all the innovative kid fun stuff like a Kid Wash that looked like a car wish complete with swishy brushes and spraying water that the kids ran through. The only airplane type "ride" was a huge inflated 747 that swallowed kids from the nose that had big red lips and dumped them out the tail. It was hilarious to watch the kids disappear into the airplane's mouth and scream for effect then tumble out the backend. Haven't you just felt like that during some of your travels?!

And so the summer rolls on. We're off for Reno next Wednesday for RWA national convention.

Ciao, ciao, mmmmmmmmmmelinda

Hi ho, MMMMMlogerinos!

FOOD+WINE+FRIENDS--A PERFECT BASTILLE DAY FOR THIS NON-FRANCOPHILE
I love this new photo uploading tool from Blogger.com. You remember that I'd bought a super geewhiz new digital Canon and have even learned to use it. However, I find that my camera phone is always in my purse and ready to shoot. I upload the photos to Sprint then email them to myself. There's probably an easier, quicker way, but this is the way I know to do it.

Speaking of Wine, Women and FOOD . . .
My favorite white wine is DeLille Cellar's Chaleur Estate Blanc and, thrill of thrills, the winery was celebrating the pre-release of their 04 Chaleur Estate Blanc with a Bastille Day Picnic in Woodenville, WA today for the Woodenville Women and Wine Divas. Yes, I am a wine diva as are my friends pictured above (#1 Lisa, #3 Darcy and DeeAnna). The second photo is of the chefs of some of area's finest restaurants who prepared four fabulous entrees for us to enjoy as well as judge which paired best with the Chaleur Blanc.

Though I'm not a fan of goat cheese--stuff tastes like GOAT!--the chefs incorporated the cheese quite tastily with every entree from the Italian veal stew, the one non-seafood entree, to the cream sauce of the seafood flan. My favorite was the scallop and unfortunately I left the menu behind or I could regale you with the proper names and ingredients. Also, remember that I also love the Chaleur Estate Blanc . . .and thought everything tasted just fabulous with it!

Speaking of tasty . . . Lisa and I birthday gifted Darcy a ticket to the event BEFORE we knew what the menu would be. When we saw what the chefs were preparing to pair with the Chaleur, we paled. Darcy loathes seafood. Huzzzah for the veal and the baguettes at each place setting, though she ate each entree, even the very underdone but perfectly wonderful albacore tuna. I knew she was in a special hell when she tossed back the wine and was looking for more. Gotta give the girl her props for hanging in there. I know that paybacks are hell and that I'm probably looking at a birthday gift lunch of my own in a goat cheese factory tasting room . . .

Ciao, ciao, MMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmelinda

Hi ho, MMMMMLogerinos!

Who Are These Kids?
I've told you that I'm actually going to attend my high school reunion next month and that this is a first as I haven't attended one previously. I haven't told you which reunion this is and for good reason. As you view this picture . . . you'll understand. I still don't, but perhaps you will.

A former classmate sent along the photo and some who have seen it claim to be able to identify the kids. Some even think one of those kids, who seem to me to look like characters out of the movie, A Christmas Story, is MMMMMM. I don't see me among the cast, but then who really remembers what they looked like as a six-year-old? My mother says I had long light (blondish) hair when I was in first grade that I wore in pig/pony tails or crisscrossed braids. How utterly fashion criminal! Don't see any of that particular kind of fashion faux pas in this photo.

If any of you can convince me that I am actually one of those kids, I'll gift you something really good, to be decided at the time I'm convinced. Email me and get to convincing that you see MMMMMM in the eyes, the smile, the Peter Pan collar. . .

Ciao, ciao, MMMMMMMMMMmelinda

Hi ho, MMMMLogerinos!

Some MMMlogerinos may consider the following to be . . . uh, totally inappropriate to downright distasteful. All the better, I say!

I'm going to talk about the CHANGE, as my genteel grandmother called menopause (when she had to mention it at all.) Actually, the CHANGE is a more positive descriptive word than what women aged 40-60, who are entering or exiting that *&^%$#* change in their bodies and lives, call it these days.

Just as I thought I never suffered PMS, I don't believe I exhibit that certain mercurialness of behavior and attitude that I see in many women my tender age and older. Case in point, my dentist. Lovely woman, gentle, talented and I'd been going to her for years . . . until her only response to her persistent question of why I grit/grind my teeth was a snappish: "What do you have to be stressed about? You've got a great husband and son. A perfect life. What more could you want?" And off she would sail to "treat" the next patient to her CHANGE-modified bedside manner.

The assistants and hygienists in her office are younger, as she and I used to be. I feel for them having to experience our doing the CHANGE. It probably scares them to death that our something evilly menopausal is their way coming. (As you see, I'm including myself in this because I'm an avatar-in-training and believe that what I observe out in reality is my creation, my menopausal dentist, and is a reflection of myself. However, I still hold that I am not THAT mercurial . . .) We've found a new dentist who's been in practice for about four years. He's a very serious young Asian fellow and I'm not afraid of him or his office assistants who are his age and younger. I behave very nicely because I want to be a good model of a possible future and don't want to scare them. :>))

We went to a new eye doctor, who proved to be a very nice man that we like very much. However, his office is staffed by women of that certain mercurialness. They even scare me with their short tempers and "What the f--- do you want?" attitudes. They seem resistant to my vast charm and attempts to happy them up. Oh. My. I really don't look forward to going back there, but it's all about the DH's employer's vision plan and the approved providers.

Now, take my GYN. What a woman! She's early thirtyish, fun and GREAT in everyway. We clicked from my first visit. Dr. Kelley spends time with me and actually listens, laughs at my jokes and reads my books, plus she researches for me. What more can you ask for? Yes, she's an excellent surgeon and physician. The best. And if I wax menopausal, such as weirdly bursting into tears in the middle of a funny story, she liberally applies the soothing balm of understanding, not judgment.

Crisco, Not Just For Baking Anymore . . .
Speaking of funny, I've talked to Kelley about many phases of post-menopausal female functioning. With the menopausal changes in a woman's body come some discomfort and the search for that comfort can become rather urgent and consuming. She told me that another patient of hers who is older than I took to using the vegetable shortening Crisco as a lubricant due to its easier positioning application and slow melting. I ventured that I hadn't ever considered the baker's choice a viable alternative for that particular problem.

We women, regardless of age or experience, are so darned creative!

Ciao, ciao, mmmmmmmmmmelinda

Hi ho, MMMMlogerinos!

TWINKLE TOES WOES
Not unlike a reality show, this is a dance confessional . . . on our ballroom dance lessons the DH and I have been subjecting ourselves to for the last three weeks. The unrelenting hell lasts until the middle of August. Actually, as I've mentioned before, this dance stuff is a great rendering . . . I go instantly red and sweating. The other student dancers probably think I'm going to explode! Me too. Last night we were working on turns and spins. During our best dance, the meringue, my DH raised his arm, bringing mine up and I moved into an expert turn. "Oooo, you stink!" he said. Apparently, my deodorant had failed me--yeah, like the moment I walked in the door of the dancehall. Pressure! I was forced to dance the rest of meringue with my arms tightly to my sides, rather than offend his sensitive proboscis. Very humiliating. Of course, this came right on the heels of another couple asking us if we'd taken the class before. I was feeling pretty great about our magnificent ability until the DH deflated my smelly ego.

Ciao, ciao . . .Ow! mmmmmmmmmmmelinda

Hi ho, MMMLogerinos!

NEW ~ NEW ~ NEW ~ NEW ~ NEW
CREATIVE COACHING ~~ Do you write from "flow"? Do you need to overcome creative blocks so you can write and enjoy it? Check out my how-to articles and the workshop listings for creative development workshops. If you would like individualized coaching to overcome your creative blocks and creat on-demand creative flow, please email me. We can do it!

YA Going Away--Again?
Back in the early nineties when I first started writing fiction, I wrote young adult novels. At that time, YA was "hot" and it looked like my Golden Heart winner was going to be published that minute. Then the publisher folded the YA line and the YA romance market cooled way off. I had to wait until 1998 for my first YA to be published. Then about three years ago, YA romance started to come back and eventually really gained momentum, which I attributed to Harry Potter and to TV shows oriented toward the 12-16 year olds.

My former agent shopped a couple of my YAs. My next agent suggested I refine a YA paranormal idea about Billy the Kid riding into now and helping a geeky good girl go really, really bad. I shopped that idea to a particular publisher that requested it and now that line has folded. Geeeez! The story is very cute and everyone who actually reads it, likes it, but getting them to read it before the line folds or the market falls off--that's the trick. Obviously I don't chase the market and have had much opportunity to develop market "patience."

I really hate to see the YA market fade again. Our kids need great stories that stir the imagination and take them out of themselves, show them alternatives to negative behavior without being preachy. That's what I strive to do with my YA novels, anyway. In fact, a woman wrote me that she bought my multiple award winning YA, GHOSTLY ACTS, from my website, read it in three hours and loved it. I love to hear that!!!

Well, it's ballroom dance class tonight. Again, pray for my toes . . .

Ciao, ciao, mmmmmmmmmelinda

Hi ho, MMMLOGerinos!

DEJA VU--LONDON TUBE BOMBINGS
Terrorists bombed the London underground and a double-decker bus today. Terrorists?Let's just call terrorists what they really are--murderers.

These sorts of attacks are nothing new to London. When we lived in a small village some 45 minutes out of London, we traveled the rail and tube system constantly. My DH drove into Heathrow airport everyday for work and one day as he was driving by Terminal 2, it exploded. Then the train we consistently took from our village into the city was bombed. That was twenty years ago and those acts were attributed to the IRA then.

Corporate security came to England and advised us how not to become terrorists targets, which Americans seem to always be. We were advised to always keep the cars' gas tanks full, never take the same route to work or school, and never look or talk like an American. That's the toughest "never do" for most American ex-patriots living abroad. It seems in our genes to be open, trusting, enthusiastic and outgoing. The high school kids were warned not to wear their American School jackets into town and to play it low profile. We were told not to travel to Egypt, Greece, the Middle East or into Africa, places I'd always wanted to go.

Later during the first Gulf war, our friends (actually he was a schoolmate of my father's) who were in Iraq on a short assignment were taken captive by Sadam's troops and used as slave labor and human shields. The company finally got them released and he retired.

The war on terror . . . sounds like another contradictory saying, support mental health like crazy, doesn't it. I pray constantly for our sons and daughters in the American military who are sent around the world to fight a war that always has a different face, a different place, a different code name. I'm not isolationist but I always wonder are they all our wars to fight?

Oh. My.

Ciao, ciao, MMMMMMMMMMMelinda

Hi ho, MMMLOGerinos!

NEW ~ NEW ~ NEW ~ NEW ~ NEW
Online Workshop Date Changed
The STAR Online workshop, THEME: YOUR STORY'S HEART & SOUL, scheduled for August 1-31 has been changed to November 1-30. To register, go to http://members.aol.com/starrwa/workshop.pdf


THE PAIN OF PERFORMANCE ART
Yes, I survived our ballroom dancing lessons last night, thank you for asking. Oh. My. It's amazing how two hours of on your feet movement can create a great rendering . . . aka sweating like a horse.

The DH has no discernable sense of rhythm and, due to his auditory discrimination challenges, everything is pretty much noise that he doesn't too easily sort out. But he tries like crazy and has a determined glint in his eye. The instructor offers lots of help, but the DH flashes back to the excruciating music and dance lessons of childhood, going hard over to the defensive position. I've encouraged him to just accept the correction and go with it as he could, but it's rather difficult for him. We took a cruise once where I urged him, okay bribed, to join a little dance party/contest thing. For him, it was like being paraded naked before a firing squad without the blindfold or cigarette. I didn't ask him to dance for many years after that, but I love to dance, or so I thought, and the DH is ever wanting to please me. So, as my light-year high school reunion is coming up next month with the inevitable dinner dance, I thought we should look at least presentable.

That's what I get for thinking . . .

In any case, we've discovered that we can do a fairly mean waltz and we can meringue all night long. So if DJ plays any of that at the dinner dance, we're going to have our moment in the sun. Pray for us.

Ciao, ciao, MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMelinda

Hi ho, MMMLogerinos!

NEW~NEW~NEW~NEW
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ARE WE WHAT WE READ?
Some longs ago, an editor was here in my office and looked over my bulging bookcases. "You need more fiction," he said, taking in the shelves of psychology, metaphysical, New Age, behavioral sciences, quantum physics, NLP, hypnosis, writing craft, education/training, literature anthologies, reference books, instructional manuals, curriculum, dictionaries and so on.

Though he did seem rather approving of the Idiot's Guide to Tantric Sex. (I was studying up, you see, for my next book Essence of Trust in which the world is literally saved by tantric sex--hooohaaa!)

I do have a lot of fiction, I protested, but most of it is stored after I read it, the keepers, anyway. I swept my hand around my office. "This is where I work and I work with all those nonfiction books at one time or another, not just in my creative development coaching but my books' characters are drawn from all this." I went on to say that I read fiction for pure, delicious pleasure. He asked if others' fiction didn't stimulate my creativity, give me ideas for my stories? At the time I said that I didn't think so, I simply enjoyed it. Though as I've thought about it, yes, others' fiction does stimulate me. If it's good and I'm enjoying the read, even if the material is gut-wrenching and the happy ending long time coming, I can get "up" and ready to go create. And living life in the present moment does that, too, being active, getting out and about, experiencing--it's all grist for this writer's story mill.

Speaking of getting out and about, I've errands to do that should serve to stimulate--shoe shopping. No, I hate that, really. Never can find anything to fit. But I have to have something for our ballroom dance class tonight. Last time I wore sandals and my toes are still quite sore. My DH suggested I invest in a pair of steel toe boots . . .

Ciao, ciao, MMMMMMMMMMMMelinda

Hi ho, MMMLOGerinos!

NEW! NEW! NEW! NEW! NEW! NEW!
I'm declaring independence from the separate NEW page on the site. From this day forward, I'll be posting all NEW schedule, articles, workshops links here in place of the weather report.

**NEW ARTICLE
Mmmmmelinda's Conference Homily:
The care and feeding of your fellow writers, editors and agents.

There few things I enjoy more than a good writer's conference, seeing
old friends, making new ones and hanging in the halls. It's like
going back to school, only better because there's usually a bar,
occasionally decent food and often opportunities to learn about
interesting new publishing trends, business buzz or fresh writing
techniques. But I didn't always feel so positive. . .

**NEW Tasty Excerpt Up for ESSENCE OF TRUST

Since my ad in the Summer Romance Sells, I've been getting lots of email about the ESSENCE OF TRUST excerpt on the site and I invite you to take a look at the excerpt here to see why! Oh. My.

INDEPENDENCE DAY
Most Fourth of July holidays are cool and rainy here in the Northwest, but this one is warm and sunny. We're even watering the lawn! That greedy green stuff is so addicted to the usually copious amounts of moisture that no rain for a day or two and it starts to look grayish. I swear I can feel the plants crying out for me to water them. Oh yeah? Well, if you don't believe it, just read polygraph expert Cleve Backster's groundbreaking research detailed in Primary Perception.

In any case, nice wet grass helps to keep it from scorching with all the fireworks. Though this year, shooting off fireworks is illegal in the city limits. I doubt that will stop our neighborhood from what always seems like WWIII with the rockets' red glare and firecrackers bursting in air. The smoke hangs so thick that you really can't see more than a few feet, much less breathe. And it goes on for hours, starting on July 3 will a few practice shots.

We're headed out to a barbeque and plan to be back early enough that the left-at-home Airedale doesn't freak when the action starts. Hope you all have a glorious Independence Day.

Ciao, ciao, MMMMMMMMMMMmelinda