Things a writer gets to do if she's lucky:

• Read a great review of her book written by Elfrieda Abbe, publisher of The Writer magazine. Abbe calls Shut Up & Write! "... a combination of tough-love coaching and humor that inspires and shows you how to become the writer you want to be." (September issue. Top half of page 18 and 19.)
• Put gold winner stickers on the upper right corner of her books: "First Generation Indie Book Awards."
• Find out that her book is in the top 10% in its sub-category on Amazon.
• Get a message from Susan Pittelman: "I was talking with my hairdresser about your book (she has already bought three copies!!) and she told me that your book was in the top ten sellers at Next Chapter!"
• Find a note with a Pay Pal order: "Please send the book asap. I'm not returning the one I borrowed from the library until I get my own, and the fine is building up."
• Hear from a neighbor that her daughter's friend's mom, (did you follow that?) was talking to her therapist about writing. The therapist went to her bookshelf, removed a snappy looking red, white and blue book, and handed it to her.
• Read an email from Michaela Ross, who is now serving with the Peace Corps in Nicaragua. She's writing daily, and guess what book she took along with her.

If I have any sense I'll save this list to read in my dotage. (For fun, I just looked up "dotage" and found the usual dreary definitions, plus this one: "The first syllable in dotage rhymes with go: "DOE-tage." The verb dote means "to be silly" and also "to be infatuated," both of which can at times describe those in their dotage, including a renewed interest in romance that many may not have experienced since they were giddy teenagers, in love for the first time.")

Another something to look forward to.

Where is She Now?

This is a new list on my website that tells where I'm hanging out these days. Here are some of the highlights. (Details follow. This is just in case you don't read that far.)

I'll be introducing author Karen McQuestion at Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee on September 8th, leading the Women's Writing Retreat at The Clearing in Door County Sept 11-17, speaking about how to "Write Well and Get Happily Published" at the Wisconsin Regional Writers Conference in Stevens Point on Sept 24th, and teaching a Sunday afternoon workshop to benefit the Waupaca Community Arts Center on October 23.

In November, I'm teaching full-day session of one of my favorite classes, "Writing Family Stories," at Redbird-Redoak Writing Center in Milwaukee. Register with Redbird-Redoak http://redbirdredoak.com/?page_id=1296

I'm sleeping through the entire month of December, and then, in January, I'll teach a full weekend class of Shut Up & Write! This is the first time I've been able to get that on the calendar since last April, and I'm thrilled about it.


Another Room of My Own

When I gave up the beautifully painted (thanks to niece, Kristin) studio #205, I reserved another room at the Marian Center in case I really needed it. You'd think it would be enough to have an office at home in Milwaukee and an entire writers' hideaway in the country near Waupaca, but it turns out I also need a city space for private consults. So, I'm now in the little studio at the end of the hall on the main floor, the one with oversized windows, and cute bookcases outside the door. Look for me in room #211.


Lost Messages

I replaced old Blackie with a new Mac Air and misplaced a bunch of email messages in the process. It also seems that some messages I send, perhaps from my Iphone, are not arriving. If you don't hear from me and think you should have, rattle my cage and I'll do my best to connect.