Monthly Archives: September 2009
P.S. What I Didn’t Say: Excerpts Available!
I was thrilled when I discovered that my day to be the featured author for the about-to-be-released anthology had arrived! The anthology, as you all know, is entitled:
P.S. What I Didn’t Say—Unsent Letters to Our Female Friends
Megan McMorris is the editor of the book. It has been an incredible experience watching and learning as she’s put her vast editing, writing, networking, marketing and countless other skills to work on this project. Each time I see press for the book or review its list of esteemed and award-winning writers, I am humbled and amazed to be included.
If you would like to read an excerpt from my story in the book, you can go here and scroll down until you see my name. Beneath my name is the excerpt from my story, True Blue, and my professional writer’s bio.
My “letter” is written to my best college friend, Wendy. I don’t think she has any idea that I’ve written a story about her and I’m deciding whether to mail her a copy. Won’t she be surprised!
If any of you have a letter you’d like to write to a female friend, you can write one and post it in the comments section of the official blog for the book. The first five gals to write in will receive autographed copies of the book when it is released! What a great opportunity. I can think of so many additional letters I could write. Letters of joy, love, hurt, misunderstanding, laughter, memories…give it a try. It’s fun!
I love writing, reading, and reading about writing. I am grateful for all of the editors who give–or have given–my work consideration and opportunity to be published. I’m a lucky writer gal.
Pick on Someone Your Own Size!
Last night, George walked into the kitchen. “I have something to tell you that will be a bit upsetting,” he announced.
It’s never good when someone starts a conversation quite like that. Of course, my thoughts went immediately to the well-being of my family. I decided not to “go there” quite so quickly, though, and asked instead about the boat.
“Did somebody quit?” I asked.
“Something happened on Toby’s walk yesterday,” George said. “I didn’t want to tell you.”
I was alarmed at once, because saying that something happened to Toby is no small thing. Toby is our six-year old pitbull. He started out as our six-week-old foster pup (named “Baby” by the foster program due to his shy, under-confident, scared manner).
Toby has grown into a beautiful, gentle, mild pitbull who was suddenly diagnosed with cancer 18 months ago. He had to have surgery to remove his eye. During surgery, the doctor placed a glass eye inside Toby’s empty socket before sewing it shut. (Some of you may remember me blogging about this in March of 2008.)
“He got punched in the head during the walk,” George said.
Yes, you read correctly.
Our beautiful Toby (and his border collie-mix sister, Mandy) was on a normal walk on a pleasant trail in a nice section of town with his walker and our dear friend, Lisa, when a drunken and aggressive bum came out of nowhere and sucker-punched Toby in his face and screamed obscenities at Lisa. Toby literally did not see it coming.
Let’s just say that this loser better not have caused our Toby to lose ground in his cancer treatment (which is based in large part upon building his confidence and joy, not having it KNOCKED out of him) or instigated a relapse.
This will be the last time anyone messes with us, our kids, or our furry kids. George is making sure of that as we speak!
Jen’s Favorites of the Week
This past week has been filled with many things I’d consider my “favorite.” Of course, the safe return of the boat, captain, and crew from the SE Alaska salmon season qualifies as tops on the list. Here are some additional “things” from the past few days that I’m either grateful for or excited about…
- Our Facebook group, Commercial Fishing Families & Friends, already has 81 members (come and join if you haven’t already!);
- My efforts toward making George’s arrival from boat-to-home smooth and welcoming (after nearly a year of being at sea) have so far gone as planned;
- The Indigo Girls CD “Poseidon and the Bitter Bug.” Specifically, the song “Fleet of Hope“;
- A sunny Saturday afternoon spent in Ballard eating a delicious lunch with the Schile cousins and cruising past the old haunts;
- Preparing interview questions for my forthcoming article in National Fisherman magazine;
- Making plans to participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) during the month of November.
Have a great Labor Day weekend, everyone!
