L.A.

Just got back from a trip to Los Angeles to see my kids and to attend the meeting of my romance writers chapter, LARA. It was great to be back in the city and this time it seems I didn't notice the grime, or the traffic, or the crowds. It was totally fun! Does that mean a hankering to go back there to live? Who knows. Maybe. At least it's now no longer a no way nohow situation. The desert is nice and I do enjoy it for eight months of the year. If I had a little more money I would live here and escape for the two hottest months during the summer and that would make it doable. But who can afford a two month vacation? Not this baby.

Anyway, the kids are both looking good and doing great and that always makes a mother happy. I stayed a few days with my daughter and on Saturday we decided to go to Nordstrom Rack and "take a look." Sometime later I was feeling a little tired and a lot hungry, took a look at my watch and realised we'd been shopping for three hours. I never do that, I hate shopping. But for some reason I hadn't noticed the time. We both ended up with wonderful purchases and saved a ton of money.

My daughter is losing weight and beginning a bootcamp today where they do six-mile sunrise hikes in Griffith Park and other intensive workouts that I can only think about with my wonky knees and fat ass. So she bought a ton of stuff that looked good on her but was a little tight. She then went home and took out a bunch of gift boxes, neatly folded these items and put them in the boxes, then labelled them as 5lbs, 10lbs, 15lbs and 20lbs. She stores them and when she reaches her goal she opens up her gift for that weight loss. She said it's always a terrific surprise as she can never remember what is in the boxes. What a great idea. I'm going to try it. Also she's making me weigh in when I go up in mid April. I'll lose 5lbs to her ten but that's okay. I'm older and everything is slower. I'd be thrilled with another 5lb loss.

Anyway, my daughter encouraged me to try on a jean skirt at Nordstrom Rack. I haven't worn one in years. I loved it and it made me look slimmer, so I bought it and wore it the next day to the LARA meeting. Who knew that when I sat down the slit in the front would open wide and end at "you know where?" Well, almost. Sheesh. Lucky for me I had a steno pad to take notes on and could cover the naked flesh of my chubby thighs with that.

My friend, Lynn Marshall, gave a great talk on Riveting Revisions. She's a very generous soul and shares her writing experiences to help new writers along the hard road to publication. Her sharing is deep and honest. Lynn has no qualms about exposing a faux pas or the struggles she had to get where she is today. She has six published Harlequin Mills and Boon medical romances, and just signed another contract with them. Her stories are emotionally driven and keep you turning the pages. You literally fall in love with her characters. She had a book signing after the meeting and I purchased her latest, Single Dad, Nurse Bride. I started it last night and am at chapter five. It's a feel good read. It was great to be back amongst a group of writers again, and nice to see many old friends.

I woke up to an email message from NY last Wednesday, a request to send my entire manuscript to an editor. I couldn't stop shaking. What did this mean? Oh, my! They'd read the first five chapters, liked it and requested the rest, it was as simple as that. But because I'd never been asked to submit a full manuscript by email (it's normally by regular mail) I went a little over the top on the excitement scale. I kept running around the house talking to my dog. Of course she sensed the excitement and kept cocking her head to one side as if asking, "What is it a walk? A drive in the car? Who is coming to stay? Did someone say cookie?" I finally calmed down and eventually sent off the manuscript around 1pm. Geez. I wonder what I'd do if I ever got "the call?"