A little bit of this, a little bit of that

If you're still hanging in with me on this blog, I appreciate it. It's been a full couple of weeks, and I've seriously fallen off the blog wagon. I've been thinking about other things, like . . .

My manuscript is finally out with my expert. (Did I already mention that? I might have.) I'm eagerly awaiting her remarks. Or her rotten fruit?? (Hope not.)

Band. Color guard. Band. Band. Color guard. Band. Did I mention band? Or color guard? My daughter is in the throes of contest season, and in Texas, that basically equates to, hmm, carry the three, add the six--about 10 hours of academics and 50 hours of marching band/colorguard practices/games/contests per week. It's a beatin'. And I'm not even in it.

Oh, and the minor news of a trip to the UK soon approaching. Whee! It'll be my first trip overseas other than Hawaii. Very exciting. I realize November is not the best time to visit, but when the circumstances are right, you just have to do it, okay? I got my passport (including a birth cert replacement, because durnit, it was *not* where I thought it was!) in 7 days. Amazing. And handy. I'm not going to post the details here because if you're a creeper, I don't want you to know them! :) Email me privately if you know me and really want to know. I won't think you're a creeper.

I hope to begin querying my manuscript when I return, and THAT is exciting.

I'm playing with a new concept for an interview of sorts with several of my favorite blogger authors. Perhaps one of these days I'll let them in on it and post it here!

I'm reading an interesting novel called The Girls (Lori Lansens) about conjoined twins. It's a vivid story about what it might be like to be conjoined, and also quite a poignant story of sisterhood. So, I often find myself dreaming about whatever I'm reading or writing, especially if it's heavily occupying my daytime thoughts. Last night, I was so tired and so needed to sleep, and I told myself before I fell asleep I was not going to dream I was a conjoined twin. But, of course, I did. I wasn't really sleeping soundly, and every time I needed to turn over, I would postpone it because I knew it would be really difficult--because it wouldn't be just me. How interesting is that? I hope you won't think I'm making a joke of it, because I'm not. It's just an another example of how powerful the written word can be in showing us what it's like to live in the shoes of someone not like us. Here is a good review of the book.

And speaking of word power . . .

I have been meaning to blog for days about something from a church service I attended a few weeks ago. The subject was the power of the tongue, which is always a good topic, because we can always use a little reminding about how powerful our words are. I don't usually get into religion or politics on this blog, although I enjoy engaging in intelligent email conversations about such things. (And yeah, every now and then I pop my head up on my other blog. Hehe. Then I duck fast.) But, ANYWAY, that day there was this, for your consideration:

Proverbs 21:23. Keep your mouth shut and you'll stay out of trouble. (The Message translation)

Well. At first glance, this has always appeared to say, "Keep your mouth shut. You'll stay out of trouble." But I took a second gander that day, and saw it in a whole new light. Here's my new interpretation:

"Open your mouth, and you're sure to get in trouble." (The Julie translation)

Huh. That seems portentous for a writer, doesn't it? We are going to open our mouths, thus we are going to get in trouble. So, guess what? Make sure you have your trouble prioritized. Then make it worth it.

That's all for now.