In the Sunday paper, I read about a woman who was driving alone on a highway and a car with some young men pulled up near her and started "harassing" her by tailgating and driving too close next to her. She happened to have a CB and she relayed what was happening. Three big trucks found her and they escorted her, scaring off the car of harassers, and seeing her safely to her next stop. Nice!

This reminded me of a few events in my past (all during my college days, interestingly enough) where strangers came to my rescue.

1. Three girlfriends and I drove to Old Sac to a comedy club one Friday night. After the show, we walked the deserted streets back to the underground parking lot where my car was. As we were getting in my car, a car pulled up behind mine, blocking me in. The three drunk guys called out to us. I wanted to ignore them, but one of my girlfriends started chatting flirtatiously with them (UGH!). The guys kept taunting us, refusing to move their car. As this happened, a guy and a couple of girls walked through the garage, and the guy called out to me, "Hey Susan! Quit messing around and let's go home!" Okay, I didn't know that guy, my name isn't Susan - but it worked. The car of guys took off. I meant to call out a thank you, but by then the guy and his friends had walked out of sight.

2. I was playing catch with some friends on a grassy area across from a strip mall on a very busy street. I stupidly caught a flyball with my nose. It hit me hard enough to make me collapse to the ground as blood gushed from my nose. A group of guys were playing soccer in the field next to us. One guy ran over with a clean t-shirt from his bag and gave it to me for my nose. A biker passing by, jumped off his bike, leaving it there by us, and ran across the busy street to a hamburger joint and brought back a cup of ice for me. Thank you to both of them - I never really got to thank them as I was in massive pain.

3. Finally, you young kids out there, don't try this ever! I was on crutches with a sprained ankle. I lent my friend my car (stick shift) since I couldn't drive and he was supposed to pick me up after my classes. I stood by a road waiting for over 30 minutes, during which a white van passed me twice. The third time, the van pulled up and inside were three young college guys. They asked if I needed a ride. I must have looked terrified because they all pulled out their IDs (they worked for the college food service doing deliveries). I was tired. My foot hurt. I was mad at my friend. So, I took a ride and they dropped me off at my apartment. I know that was a very stupid thing to do and that I'm fortunate that these guys were honest and not crazy killers. Thank you to them for being nice and for helping out.

How about you guys? I'm sure you have experienced the kindness of strangers. I'd love to hear your story. And I'm sending out a thank you to anyone who has ever done a kind thing for a stranger. THANK YOU!

When I had lunch with friend and writer pal, Susan Taylor Brown (aka susanwrites) last week, she told me about her wonderful collage class and an idea to do visualization collages for the upcoming year. Check out this post from newport2newport and this post from the Shrinking Violets. Fun stuff, right?

I'm not an artist. I love art and worship artists, but I am better as an appreciator of art than a creator. I've admired my friend Lynn's collages over the past couple of years and wanted to take a class with her this past summer, but wasn't able to. So, when Susan suggested getting together to do some collaging together, I was all over it!

She kindly invited me to her home yesterday. (And what a lovely home it is!) I met her hubby and reacquainted with Cassie!


Cassie!

Then, we settled in at a table with our supplies and comfortably chatted away about life and writing and our hopes for 2010 as we worked our on respective collages.


Getting started.


Playing around with placement. I had fun looking for blue background pieces (I find blue/water calming and soothing). Loved looking for words that spoke to me about my writing goals/hopes.


The finished product.

I was quite pleased with how it turned out and I plan to look at it often to inspire and motivate myself with writing in the coming year. I had to leave before Susan finished hers, but what she had so far was really fantastic! Susan and I made plans to meet again to do more collages! YAY! Thanks, Susan!

I was just floundering for a post idea and read jbknowles's idea for a Monday Morning Meme - 21 questions in the form of a poem. Of course the word "poem" nearly scared me off, but I think I'll do it - and just admit I don't write poetry, but I am perfectly capable of writing 21 questions. Here's Jo's post. I'm inviting you to participate and if you feel like answering my questions, you can respond in the comments section.

Would You Rather 21 Times

Would you rather -
ski or swim?
read or sing?

Would you rather eat -
chocolate or lobster?
broccoli or asparagus?

Would you rather drink -
coffee or tea?
Coke or Pepsi?

Would you rather go to -
the mountains or the beach?
Europe or Asia?

Would you rather -
be alone or with strangers?
watch TV or go to the movies?

Would you rather -
sky dive or eat bugs?
tightrope walk or be locked in a closet?

Would you rather -
risk your heart or risk your money?
tell a secret or tell a truth?

Would you rather -
sink or swim?
fly or dive?
be tall or be short?
be invisible or walk through walls?
live loud or live quiet?
try but fail or never try and never know?

Would your rather -
just not play along?

Today is apparently Agent Appreciation Day! How cool is that? I already sent my agent a note to tell her how much I appreciate her, but I also wanted to give her a shout out here.



Jennifer DeChiara, of The Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency, is not only a fabulous agent, but a terrific friend. She always responds to my emails/calls immediately, and she never acts like she's too busy to talk. She remembers the names of my WIPs and asks after them, she believes in my projects, and keeps me posted on submissions. She negotiates deals for me - not satisfied with boiler-plate contracts. Best of all, she believes in ME! I am so happy to be traveling this road with her. Thank you, Jennifer!!! (And thank you, Brent Hartinger, for introducing us!)

My five favorite coffees:

5. Panera Bread coffee - black with a packet of sugar

4. Dana Street Roasting Company - mocha latte with rice milk

3. Dana Street Roasting Company - gingerbread latte with rice milk

2. Bad Ass Kona coffee - black with a touch of sugar syrup

and my number one favorite coffee in the world?

1. First cup of coffee in the morning - right now we're using Starbucks Sumatra


Mmmmmmm!!!!! Btw - I'm not one of those all day coffee drinkers - I typically have two cups a day. One in the morning and one mid-afternoon. Is is mid-afternoon yet????

Have a great weekend!

I want to work on HF, my WIP that is in rough first draft form. I'm taking my sweet time. I'm really digging deeper with this WIP, with my characters. I, sometimes, get antsy - wanting to hurry and finish the needed revisions so that I can share with my writing group, and eventually with my agent (who recently asked about it). I worked a bit yesterday - still using the awesome Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass. Let's face it, though, with the upcoming holidays, I'm just not focused enough. I'll grab writing moments when I can, but I think I'll wait till January to truly throw myself back into HF. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy catching up on my reading. Fell way behind! Right now I'm reading Outside Beauty by Cynthia Kadohata. This is a book C recommended to me. Liking it so far!

1. Looky what came in the mail!

Eric Luper's (aka eluper) ARC! Ooh boy! I can't wait to dig in!

2. Thank you to PaperTigers for a very nice review of my book, Japan: A Kaleidoscope Kids Book!



3. Thanks to all you nice people for saying you missed me while I was away from LJ! To further illustrate how "off the grid" I've been, I fell way behind on GLEE. During lunch, I watched the "Wheels" episode online. Made me tear up. Great episode. Looking forward to catching up on the rest.

4. Bob and I completely missed 30 ROCK. I guess we've been under a rock! We just finished watching season 1 (thank you Netflix) and love love loved it! Bob worked for GE for many many years, so we found a lot of the scenes extremely hilarious (Six Sigma anyone?)! Bob has taken to calling me Liz Lemon. Is this a good thing? hehe I think he just likes saying her name. ;)

5. Why do I always feel like I need "five" of something when I start a list?

I want to get back to blogging regularly - I have missed this community tremendously! So, even though I have nothing to say, here I am. Basically, I'm going to use the time I would have used to post to catch up on all of my LJ friends' blogs. (If I don't comment, I apologize, but I'm reading!) :)

I admit, I haven't been reading LJ for awhile now, so if you're so inclined, tell me the funniest or best thing that's happened to you this past week!

Friday: Pal, Jo Whittemore (aka jo_no_anne), came to town and met me for cupcakes. But we didn't end up having cupcakes because a very loud high school (?) band was playing in the courtyard in front of Kara's and we couldn't hear ourselves think, much less be able to talk to each other. So, we opted for the quieter Cocola where we didn't have cupcakes but got to talk to each other! YAY! It was great seeing her!

Saturday: Is it sad that I can't really remember what I did on Saturday? Yes. It's very sad.

Sunday: Bob made pineapple pancakes - he makes the best pancakes ever. We went to lunch at our favorite noodle house and had awesome ramen. We went to see Men Who Stare At Goats. Not the best movie ever, but it was very nice to sit in a theater together, munching on popcorn (and we didn't have to pay since we used our gift cards). Oh, speaking of popcorn - while we were ordering our popcorn, we watched a woman wander into the area and stick her hand in the kettle corn (self serve), grab a handful and shove the popcorn into her mouth. Two other women, Bob, and I all squealed in disgust. One of the women promptly removed the tainted box of kettle corn and reported the incident to one of the workers. Ew! Oh, and speaking of that - in the restroom, as I washed my hands, I watched a woman come out of the stall, wet her hands briefly (no soap, no scrubbing), use the paper towel dispenser and walk out. Argh! I used my elbow to get my paper towel out, but I always do that. I'm so grossed out by gross people! Then Bob and I stopped at our favorite coffee place where I normally get a latte with rice milk, except they were out of rice milk so I tried soy milk. Remind me that I don't like soy milk. Tastes okay going down but the after-taste is foul. I wanted to scrub my tongue after drinking my gingerbread latte. *sigh*

Monday: Joy! Finally got together with Susan Taylor Brown (aka susanwrites)! It was so wonderful to see her and to catch up with her. We talked about books and writing - and she got me wound up to get back to my WIP. It may be till January until I can write on a regular schedule again. Hope to see her again very soon!

I'm going to try to blog more regularly again - AND read your posts more regularly.

Happy December!

I will start blogging again. Soon! Really!!!!

Having a lovely time with my folks in Huntington Beach, CA. Bob made Thanksgiving dinner! MMmmm!

Hey all! I just found out (and you all might already know all about this) that our own Stacy Whitman/slwhitman is founding a small press called Tu Publishing - specializing in multicultural SFF children's books. Whoa! That is freakin' fantastic!!! Check out the web site to learn more and read feature articles about multicultural books and interviews with authors. Exciting stuff!

AND you can be a part of all this - go here and pledge money to back Stacy and Tu Publishing. It doesn't even have to be a LOT of money. I made my pledge - how about you?

Congratulations, Stacy! And much luck to you and your new venture!

Every morning for the last 3 months or so, Bob, Trixie, and I take a walk - anytime between 6:30 and 8 AM. And every morning for the last 3 months or so, we pass the same older gentleman walking. It doesn't matter what time we go, he's always there. After a couple of months, he started nodding to us. And just this week, he actually said "Hello! How are you?" (We'd previously say, "hello" but never get an answer.) I wonder - who is he? What's his name? Does he have a family? And it saddens me slightly to think that someday we won't see him - either we'll move, or we'll stop walking, or something.

In the past, walking was good for me and my creative mind. I'd think of new stories, new characters, or come up with a solution to a plot problem. These days, Bob and I have been talking - a lot - pretty much nonstop, and it's been very nice.

The air is crisp and fall is finally in the air. Leaves are turning vibrant reds and yellows and the scent of woodsmoke is faint, but noticeable. Our feet crunch on dried leaves and Trixie leaps after squirrels. I'm very much enjoying our walks.

And now, it's time to BIC and get to work on my WIP.

I met Bob on a plane.

Here's Bob, C, and me in front of our house in Mexico City - over eleven years ago:


And for those of you who don't know the story - click here.

Through high highs and low lows, from Detroit to Mexico to Pittsfield MA to Upstate NY to China and to here in California, traveling around the world together - all this started from a flight from Dallas to Detroit. It still amazes me.

I updated my site - with a fabulous new interview with Jo Knowles where she talks about her newest novel, Jumping Off Swings. WooHOOO!

Some of you might remember the freelance project I was working on - the one I was excited about. The books finally came out and they're gorgeous! I was honored to be able to help edit and write some text for the following fabulous books:


Chinese History Stories: Stories from the Zhou Dynasty, Edited by Renee Ting (Shen's Books, 2009)


Chinese History Stories: Stories from the Imperial Era, Edited by Renee Ting (Shen's Books, 2009)

Both books contain fascinating stories from Chinese history - translated and edited by the fabulous Renee Ting, with gorgeous illustrations! I was thrilled to be able to have a part in this project (I wrote up the informational text at the end of the stories). These books would make great gifts. Purchase at Shen's Books directly or order from your favorite source (independent bookstore, ya know)!

You know that saying - you can't go home again? Well, you can. I had a fabulous time in Albany, NY - seeing friends, visiting old haunts, signing books, and writing.


My buddy Nancy Castaldo and I grabbed lunch together and caught up on everything. I miss having my writing pals around! (We're toasting each other with shot glasses of chocolate cake! YUM!)


Post-signing, jeannineatkins, naturespeak (aka Nancy Castaldo), and I posed with the statue children. Jeannine is holding Bug Boy by eluper and Nan is holding Forget Me Not by Coleen Paratore. It was cold enough for us to turn into stone statues!


I was so happy and grateful that my friend and fellow writer Jen Groff drove out to see me. We shared a hotel room and talked the evening away. Oh - and I raved about Donald Maass's The Fire in Fiction so much that even though we were already in our PJs, we decided to dash out to the book store so Jen could buy it! And we also stopped by The Cheesecake Factory for dessert. The next morning we worked on our WIPs. I wrote brand new scenes! Bliss!


Bob's brother, Scott, and his lovely wife, Chris, came out to have lunch with me. They had to miss my signing because it was parent's day at my nephew's college, but I was thrilled to see them. We talked SO much (and maybe so loudly) that all the other tables near us were silent. Hmmmmm. ;) Our families use to spend holidays together when Bob and I lived there. I miss that! Later that evening, I went to dinner with my former neighbors Gordon and Linda. Fabulous!

I had a great time in Albany! Thanks, everyone!

Thank you to The Little Book House in Albany, NY for hosting my signing, and to my friend and author pal, Coleen Paratore, for setting it up! Thank you to friends who came - I so appreciate the support and smiles! You guys rock!


Seeing my books in a store - never gets old!


Coleen Paratore (multi-published children's author!) and me. We were in the same writing group when I lived in Clifton Park, NY.


Pal and author Eric Luper (and adorable son) came by, along with a number of other local author pals - Rose Kent, Nancy Castaldo, Janine Camaratta, Janice Toomajian, and two pals who drove a ways - Jennifer Groff and Jeannine Atkins! Thank you! Also thanks to non-author pals who came by - Julie and family (who made purchases for GPMs) and Linda and Gordon (my former neighbors). I hope I didn't forget anyone! Ooh, and thanks to a couple of complete strangers who purchased my book. :)

The best news was that the store sold out of JAPAN books - but it was a bummer, too, since others came by to purchase it and they were out. I think Col's lovely mother was the person to get the last copy.

I have a few more things to share about my weekend - next post! Thanks, everyone!

Better late than never, right?

On Thursday, October 15th, I flew all day with two layovers into Albany NY. Tight connections but all went surprisingly smooth! I stayed with GPM, Sharon. (Reminder: GPM = Game Playing Maniacs - a group of 8 of us got together once a month in the Albany area to play cards, board games, and have lunch. The only thing we had in common when we first got together was that our husbands worked together. We ended up fast friends! Half of us have since then moved, but we'll always remain GPMs!) Friday we had a mini GPM reunion with Sharon, Julie, Lisa, and myself.



First game we played was Speed Scrabble. What a fun game! I came in second - which was amazing! Sharon was the big winner.

We then played a card game called Golf. I ended up winning that one. Yes, it's now my favorite game.

After a morning of fun, we headed out to lunch at Fo' Castle Farms.



Here's a pic of the four of us, taken by a man we accosted in the parking lot. ;) I was freezing - while the others maintained it was nice weather. Ah yes, I've totally returned to being a CA girl and totally wimpy about Upstate NY weather. It was very gorgeous, though.

After lunch, Lisa had to dash off to Florida (wooHOO I hope she had a great trip with her hubby). The remaining three of us went back to Sharon's to play cards (3-13). We had GPM Lainie in Ohio making comments via text message as we played. Quite fun!

Stayed tuned for pics and more about my signing!

1. Thank you to US Air and United for three legs of smooth flights that ran on time!

2. Brrrr - I'd forgotten how cold it is out here! (And that I used to be fine with it for the most part.)

3. Today, I'm reuniting with part of the GPMs (most of us have moved away). A day of games/cards and snacks and lunch!

4. I'm rereading Ellen Emerson White's The President's Daughter and loving it. I'm trying to pay attention to character development, but let's face it, I'm pretty much swept away when I'm reading this!

5. I desperately need coffee! Must head downstairs in a bit. I made a snarky comment to Bob about Starbucks' new Via - their instant coffee that comes in cute little packets. I wondered why anyone would need such a thing when coffee is so readily available every where, even when you travel? And then I realized I'd need some this weekend - I'm staying with my LDS friend and her family! Ooh! Thank goodness for Via! heh

PS - Hope to see you at my signing tomorrow!

I have a 6:20 AM (!!!) flight tomorrow morning - with two tight connections - to Albany, NY - my former hometown. I'll be signing both China and Japan at The Little Book House in Stuyvesant Plaza on Saturday, October 17 from 2 - 4 PM (with prolific children's author and friend, Coleen Paratore). I hope to see you there!

If you happen to be in the NH area, please go to the lovely and talented jbknowles's signing at Gibson's Bookstore in Concord, NH at 1:00 - on the same day. Yes, big sigh. Wish I could be there!