No, I haven't . . .

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet.

I've been teaching -- and that's an accurate statement for my current job. I, occasionally, substitute teach in a surrounding-area school district. I love the elementary age. They like learning -- most of the time -- and they haven't turned lippy, yet. If you have a teenagers, middle school or high school, or have ever been around a teenager, you'll understand. My current teaching assignment is for a straight six weeks and requires grading, extra meetings, student assessments, etc. Real teacher stuff. I love the school and the kids are . . . well, they are nine and ten year olds, what's not to love?

However, I've been a little busy. Between grading papers in the evening and still working on Fast Draft, there's been no time for blogging.

I miss visiting your blogs and hope to be back soon.

Until then, happy writing to all of you.

Texas Trivia

Betcha didn’t know . . .

1) Texas is popularly known as The Lone Star State.

2) The King Ranch in Texas is bigger than the state of Rhode Island.

3) The Austin state capitol building is made from 15,000 carloads of Texas pink granite.

4) The armadillo is the official state mammal – only in Texas would we name a ‘critter’ a state mammal.

5) The first word spoken from the moon on July 20, 1969 was ‘Houston’.

6) More species of bats live in Texas than in any other part of the United States – okay, this explains a lot. No wonder I don’t understand many of my fellow Texans. We’re all batty!

7) Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. The Dublin Dr Pepper, 85 miles west of Waco, still uses pure imperial cane sugar in its product. There is no period after the Dr in Dr Pepper. – ummmmm-um! It’s good stuff, too. You can take a tour of the Dublin plant for about $2.00 a head.

8) The world's first rodeo was held in Pecos on July 4, 1883 – told you we had the first cowboys.

9) In Texas, it's illegal to put graffiti on someone else's cow – well, of course it is.

10) Seventy-five % of the world’s Snickers bars are made in Waco at the M&M/Mars plant. Soda and candy, no wonder we think we’re an Independent state!

11) In Texas, it is illegal to curse in front of or indecently expose a corpse – okay, you gotta love our laws.

12) Early Spanish missionaries in Texas hoped to encourage the spread of European values by offering flannel underwear to Native Americans – have you ever worn flannel underwear? No wonder the Indians went on the warpath.

13) Lubbock, Texas doesn't have any storm drains. – so that is what’s wrong with Lubbock!

Pictures

All right, so I'm fast-drafting again tonight and the blog has to be quick.

How about a few pictures from my recent Barnes & Noble book-signing?

Yep, it was fun. Loads of people showed up and I sold out. How much better can it get?

These are two of my hugely helpful CPs, Delores Shaffer (on left of pic) and LA Mitchell (on the right) They were terrific and kept me calm through all my insanity at the signing table. Thanks girlies!

Oh, and please don't ask me what I was doing in this picture. I know it looks like I was directing traffic and maybe I was, but it's more likely that the camera person happened to be my 19-year-old daughter who can always manage to show her mom's, um, strange side. Thanks, Mary for taking the pictures! *GRIN*

Janice and Terry Higgs (favorite friends back from my Burlington Air Express days -- wow, was that a life-time ago!) This lovely couple has kept in touch and couldn't wait to have a copy of the book. Thanks Terry and Janice.

And my sign . . . in huge Black & White (well, color too) If I could wax surfer for a moment . . . it is, like, poster-size, dude! This is the stuff to make me keep writing when I hate my characters, the plot, the backstory and every little detail. It was truly inspiring to see my name in print.

FAST-DRAFT

Started fast-draft today. For those who don't know, fast-draft (the brain child of author and writing guru, Candy Havens) is a technique of setting a goal for writing X number of NEW pages per day and living with that commitment for 14 days. A group of writers bond together -- each one making his/her goals public -- then each writer is accountable for hitting that number.

My page count is 7 new pages per day. No matter what happens, I've commited to writing SEVEN or 1,750 words each day. That's in addition to any other writing commitments I have.

Today, I edited 80 pages in front to make sure the transitions would be smooth then I hit my page count. As I'm working out of the house all this week, 7 seemed realistic. I hope to blow that number out of the water, though.

Don't forget my next book-signing for HARM'S WAY:
Barnes & Noble
8525 Airport Freeway
N. Richland Hills, TX
Thursday, September 6th, @ 7:30pm

Oh, and don't forget, if you'd prefer an electronic download of HARM'S WAY go to:
The Wild Rose Press and order directly from this link.