Outside my window, the snow is blowing in wicked white-outs as I write. I am recovering from a bout with the flu, probably swine. I hope I never get that sick again!

I am behind in my Christmas preparations, probably because I’m having a hard time putting my heart into it this year. The good news is both my novels are still selling decently and I received nice royalty checks this year. The bad news is all my good intentions of fininshing my fourth novel are met with procrastinaton my part. I know how and what to write but just can’t seem to find the time to do it.

My mother’s cancer has metastisized; last month her oncologist told her she can expect about six more months to live. All my siblings, their children and grandchildren came home for Thanksgiving. Out of the blue my friend, Kay, called and offered her church to cook a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for all 75 of us!! Mom loved it and it was so good to all be together again, there was much laughter and plenty of tears. Mom is still as feisty as ever. And we are praying for a miracle…

Of course, I try to spend as much time with my parents as I can, despite the distance and weather. My literary agent is on the ball and working hard to find a pubisher for book # three.

Wishing all of you a blessed holiday season. Happy reading!

 Some days I feel like being in this play, The Dixie Swim Team, has taken over my life. It is so much fun and yet so much work, to learn all the lines and where to stand or sit when I say them, and how to say them. And if we flub our lines and ad lib, then we mess up the next actor’s lines who was waiting on our correct line for her cue. It is much more involved than I ever dreamed it would be. But I’m glad I’m doing it, it’s a great learning experience.

Meanwhile I’m a little more Dinah in my speech and behavior each day as I try to get into her character. The hardest thing, (probably for my poor husband…but then it was his idea that I audition and give this a try!), is she’s totally opposite me. She’s a southern woman, hard drinking successful trial lawyer, very sarcastic and never married with no children. And did I mention it’s really fun too??

Show times are Friday, Oct. 16 and Saturday, Oct. 17 @ 7:30 p.m. and Sunday afternoon @ 2 p.m. at Universtiy of Pittsburgh at Bradford Bromely Theater, Bradford, PA.

I finally have a literary agent. I hope she’ll be able to sell my new novel, I know the wheels of the publishing world move slowly for all of us who are not celebrities. But to have an agent is a big deal for me as it is for most writers. Now I’ll be able to really focus on writing instead of all the business connected with it…well, once this play is over. 

Till next time… Ann

I intended to write this blog more frequently but the weeks have rolled by again. Life always seems to get in the way. Summer is winding down, even though the weather has heated up. Schools start next week.

Agents are still expressing interest in my third novel as I work away on my fourth novel. I bought myself a new framed sign for my desk:

“My hopes are not always Realized but I always hope.” by Ovid  

It would be impossible for me to continue writing without hope!

I’ve spent lots of time with my grandchildren the last few weeks, and that’s always time well spent.  My mother is holding her own and that is such a blessing in itself.

I auditioned for a play, with the local community theater, on a whim and with a bit of encouragement from my husband … AND I got the part! I’ve never acted before but I think it will be loads of fun. It’s “The Dixie Swim Team” written by the same writer who wrote “The Golden Girls” TV series. It is a cast of five women, I have the part of Dinah, a Bea Arthur like character. And we all have to speak our parts with a southern accent. The play will be at UPB on Oct 16, 17 and 18. Wish me luck!

I’ve read many books this summer, my favorites are:

 Shanghai Girls by Lisa See and Still Life by Louise Penny.

Book Clubs certainly keep me reading new authors and exploring genres I’d never open if not for club choices. I may not be reading quite as many books in September since I have a script to memorize…

Later,  Ann

Maybe a woman needs to be post menopausal to enjoy the weather we’ve had so far this summer, but I certainly am. Not one day over 90 and that’s great with me! And so much rain that I don’t even have to water the gardens everyday, God does a much better job anyway.

Today I feel a bit blue. Frank McCourt died yesterday. I never met him. But I so loved his writing and listening to his lovely Irish accent when he gave interviews on television or on the radio. He taught school for thirty years in the NYC area, all of his former students are fortunate indeed. If you haven’t read Angela’s Ashes, Tis and Teacher Man, I suggest you do. You are in for a real treat. He has the true gift of the Irish with the English lanquage, keen perception completely void of resentment. There are pages in Angela’s Ashes that made me laugh out loud and then cry a few paragraphs later. Very powerful. After reading it, I never looked at poor people the same way.

 Last months interested agent passed but with kindness, wishing me luck. Today I received word from another agent, (one I’d truly be thirilled if she represented my work), who wants to read the entire manuscript. I just can’t help being optimistic!

 I have three grandchildren here with me this afternoon and it’s getting noisy… so I best close this blog for today. We’re going out to dinner and then to see the new Harry Potter Movie tonight. Crafts tomorrow and then swimming on Wednesday. Thursday I have another Book Signing at the Forest Nook in Cooks Forest, PA.

Till next time… hope you all are having a great summer too.  Ann

Today is Fathers Day and I had the pleasure of sitting beside my dad for breakfast. I had to drive ninety minutes to be there but it was so worth it. My mom, sisters and their husbands were also there. But I was the one who got to sit beside Dad! He’ll be 87 on his birthday later this summer. He cuts firewood, plants a garden and takes care of Mom as well as the farm we all think of as home.

Mom was discharged from the hospital on Friday after emergency admission for treatment of three blood clots in her lungs… she informed her oncologist she had had her last chemotherapy treatment. She has lost so much weight and tires quickly but other than that remains her normal feisty self.

We were away the week of June 8 at a local resort using a time share week for a family vacation of sorts. One son was laid off the month of April and is still feeling the financial  pinch from that, the other son is currently laid off but is due to go back ot work July 12. His wife is in training in Buffalo, NY for her new position with the Social Security Adminsistration.

But everyone came as much as they could, it was a little cool for swimming but we played lots of tennis. (My husband has a tennis ball machine.) I even shot a gun on the target range, they said I was a natural because I hit the target every time. But gee how hard is that, you aim the gun right at it and shoot! What else was I going to hit?? I didn’t like the kick of the gun, they said I should try a smaller caliber, I was shooting with a 9 mm.

It was good to spend time with the the family though very hectic with 10 grandchildren from ages 5 through 25 coming and going! My parents also came to visit one day. There is definitley something to be said for local vacations.

A Literary Agent in California wants to read the first fifty pages of my new novel, It Happened on Willow Lane…naturally I plan to send it to her as soon as possible. Being a natural optimist, I can’t help but hope this mught be a really good thing for my writing career.

The last few weeks of my life have been consumed with details planning a Surprise Birthday Party for my husband.  We pulled it off Saturday night with 100 of his closest friends and family. All our guest beds were full after the party as well as six rooms at an inn near our home. We hosted a brunch for 17 at our home Sunday morning, before everyone started their long drives home.

I feel so relieved that it is over…all the lies and deceit can now start going back into my fiction rather than ruling my life! (I’d had my dress clothes packed in the car for a couple days.) Saturday morning I pretended to drop a chocolate eclair on him and smear it on his trousers, in order to get him to change into a pair of black ones that would be more appropriate for the party without rousing his suspicions…I took a necktie in my purse for him to put on later.

I had our minister’s wife call me Saturday afternoon with an SOS call for help serving at a funeral dinner at the church late Saturday aft. I pretended to cry for the passing of a ficitonal lady and said, “It’s a shame, she attended our church for sixty years and when she dies, noone even has time to honor her life…” Then he said, “Well if you’re really short, I could come help in the kitchen too.” Yikes!! I really had friends meeting me to decorate.  His daughters came up with a scheme to get him to the party and it was a wonderful evening.

After the shock wore off, he said it was the best day of his life to be so honored by so many of the people he cares about the most. He was roasted and toasted and heard all the things that are usually said after a person is gone.

Happy Spring to all of you…and please keep reading. No matter how busy I am, I read at least one book a week, usually two.  And if you are not a member of a Reading Group or Book Club, please find one to join or start your own, you only need about six people committed to giving it a try. Check online or with your local librarian for guidelines on how to start one. It’s great fun to talk about books you’ve read with your book friends!

         My dad is a farmer and it’s not unusual for him to reply to a ‘How are you?’ question with a report on the weather. I used to say, ’But Dad that’s what it’s doing outside, I want to know how you are doing.’  He rarely seperates the two. This winter with each passing blustering day, I felt more like the famers’ daughter than ever before!

But today the sun is shining and spring is officially here, soon the grass will be green again. The spring perennial flowers are already poking their green shoots up through the cold earth. In a few months I may complain of weeding the garden, etc.  But I hope I’ll somehow remember the seemingly endless winter that came early and lingered on long after it’s welcome was worn out.

Of course, in this part of the country we know we’ll probably get at least one more snow storm. However, I still made an appointment today to have my snow tires changed. We have a set of summer tires to put on, the tire service man said, ‘Well, April 15 is the standard for changing winter tires, so you are rushing the season by changing them two weeks early. ”  I’ll take my chances…

I received my new book , It Happened on Willow Lane, back from the editor last week and have been working at correcting the errors. After the corrections, then I must make several copies of the manuscript to send off to the reviewers. This writing business is a never ending process. I’ve registered to attend one day of the Pennwriters Conference in May. It’s in Pittsburgh this year, it will be long day of driving, but I’m sure it will be worth the effort.

Please feel free to leave me a message on my website email, I love to hear from my blog readers. Well, I must get back to work…Happy Spring to all!

Ann

We arrived home last Wed evening from our sixth grandchild trip to NYC since 1996.  I don’t runaway FROM my grandchildren, I runaway WITH them!  (Check out photos on my Facebook page to see some of our trips with the grandchildren.) 

Our twelfth birthday gift for each grandchild is a trip to NYC to see the sights, plays, The American Natural History Museum, ride the subway, visit the Today show, etc.  We have such a fun time and it gives us a great bonding time with each grandchild BEFORE they become teens. We take the early Amtrak Train to NYC from Buffalo. The fun starts as soon as we take our seats, lots of time for doing homework , playing cards, eating from the dining car, reading and taking naps.  Seven hours later we arrive at Penn Station. (Amtrak travel is a well kept secret @ less than $45.00 per one way ticket!)

Now you’d think as often as we’ve done it , we’d have it down to a science. Not. I’d promised Hayley a photo with the Statue of Liberty behind her. We ran out of time, there’s just soo much to do and see in NYC. So at 8:30 a.m. on Wed. after we’d eaten a quick breakfast, we hailed a cab and headed to Battery Park. Forty five minutes later, my husband was getting worried, we were moving through morning traffic at a snails pace and the Statue of Liberty was NOWHERE in sight! I asked the cab driver, “How much longer? We have a 10:20 train to catch.” He looked at me in the mirror like I was from another planet, “Lady, can you take a later train?” A few minutes later, we could finally see Battery Park. The cab driver suggested we take quick photos and then ride the subway back uptown. We took our photos and rushed to the subway, but the ticket seller was not in his booth. People hurried past us left and right. Some went through the handicap gate so before it closed Hayley and I entered without a ticket, I asked my husband to come through too. By then it was 9:30. He refused to move an inch, “No, we can’t go without buying our tickets!” Then a NYC cop approached us. “Is there a problem here?”Hayley and I went back out the gate and stood beside my husband, we explained our predicament. The cop showed us an automated ticket machine but it wouldn’t take our money. So, the cop used his universal ticket and motioned us through, telling us to take the uptown line. He even shouted, ”Good luck,” as we were ran down the stairs.

We arrived at our hotel, rode the elevator to the 16th floor, grabbed out luggage, hailed a cab, told the driver we had to be at Penn Station in ten minutes. And we made it after one wild cab ride! We flashed our tickets to the security people and told them our train was boarding now and they rushed us through. We actually had two minutes to spare before the train departed for Buffalo.  “I kissed my hubby and said, “We made it with a minute to spare!”

Now, you’d think all was well. If only. A couple hours later, I decided to get organized for our arrival, which included having the car keys ready. I emptied my purse. Twice. No keys.  I searched my luggage, my husband’s luggage, then my granddaughter’s luggage. No keys. My husband checked all his pockets. No keys. I could remember taking them out of my purse so it would be a bit lighter to carry as we were out and about in the city. But where did I put them?? I finally called the hotel housekeeping department and sure enough they had our keys, (and promised to mail them to us the next day.) So, we had to take a taxi from the train station to the airport and rent a car to drive home. The next day a friend rode with me to return the rental car and pick up our car at the train station. (Of course, we had an extra set of keys at home.)

Still not the end of my saga, I lost our garage door opener somewhere when I returned the rental car… the rental car company and the taxi company denied finding it. And so it goes…     

More later.   Ann

I love the change of seasons and I love the changes that come with each season. BUT tonight we were planning on driving to our granddaughter’s 10th birthday party, a celebration of a sweet little girl’s life. And now another blinding snow storm. 

The first snow of winter was almost romantic, the second still beautiful, the third nice as long as you didn’t have to drive on it, by the fourth, fifth and sixth – we felt like we were ready for a break! Old Man Winter graciously did send us a brief break. Milder temperatures and most of the deep snow melted; we could even see grass again…for a few days.

And now another snow storm…forgive me folks for complaining. I think cabin fever is getting to me as it is many others in the snowbelt. Rationally, I know in a few more weeks… Spring will be here!

But now I must close and go shovel snow again!

It is still Christmas at our house. I was given a novel for Christmas and I’m about half way through it,  ‘An Irish Country Christmas’ by Patrick Taylor. It’s a beautiful inspiring story, very Irish. And I refuse to take down our tree or put away our decorations until I finish it!

Of course, regardless of my state of decorations and reading material, time moves on … and some of us still make self improvement resolutions. This year I promised myself not to make any since I can rarely even remember what they were by Valentines Day.

However, my adult niece, Melissa and I have taken on the project of organizing boxes and boxes as well as stacks of family photo albums acumulated over the last 70 years. I sort in Pennsylvania and she scans them to cds in Texas. When the project is complete, we will give more than 30 complete photo history cd sets to family members. And we will present my parents, (her grandparents), with all their photos back in acid free albums.

It is a melancholy and sentimental journey as I sort, and label with names and dates, the photos into the appropriate decade. Years seem to slip through my fingers like sand.

It will be good for the younger generations in our family to see photos of their great aunts and uncles, their great grandparents and grandparents, realizing they were young once too.  And hopefully realize that youth is a fleeting experience for everyone. Photo after photo of the same faces glowing with the confidence of youth’s invulnerability fade into the stern looks of middle age and elderly stares of contempt mixed with satisfaction. (The level of satisfaction seems to be in direct correlation of how they fared the Great Depression of the early 1930’s.)

This project as well as watching my mother’s brave fight against cancer makes me want to live each day to the fullest and cherish each moment I spend with friends and family, NOT just in 2009 BUT every minute of every year I have left on this earth.

(That’s not really a New Years Resolution, is it??)

Till next time… Ann