Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Finally a quiet moment... and some squees

I’ve put on my favorite iTunes playlist, my cat and dog are sleeping on each side of me, the husby and son are out, and the sun is setting. This is my favorite time of day.

The last couple of weeks my husby and I have done some travel driving. Two weeks ago we drove to Scottsdale and last weekend we drove to Las Vegas. I often listen to audio books while I’m driving, so I thought it would be fun to load up my iPod with something that we both would like. I enjoy literary and up-market commercial fiction, Bassman likes thrillers, espionage, crime noir and police procedurals. After several hours of sampling through Audible.com, I downloaded Carl Hiaasen’s SKINNY DIP.

Part noir, part thriller, all humor, Bassman and I laughed our way across two deserts while listening to SKINNY DIP. I’d heard Hiaasen’s name praised among writer friends, but had never explored his catalog of work. This summer we’re flying to Orlando, renting a car and driving up to Chesapeake Bay, then driving back to down to North Carolina and flying home from Raleigh/Durham. You can be sure we’ll dish up some Carl Hiaasen on the road.

It’s been a while since I gave some squees...

For my husby, Bassman: At 48 he’s still got it. Last weekend was the annual Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay, an annual footrace made of law enforcement teams from all over the country. He really didn’t want to run a leg of the 120-mile relay through the desert, but his team had someone drop out and they begged him to run. He had less than a week to train for the 6.5 mile section of the relay, but he keeps himself in great shape. It wasn’t a cakewalk, for sure, but he did pass six other team runners and helped his team look good. Bravo, Bassman.

For my friend, Susan Henderson: Susan sold her first novel TAP ROOT a few weeks ago—without an agent. I have followed her writing progress on this novel for several months through her blog, LitPark, and empathized her pangs of writing, revising, finishing, submitting. Hearing of its quick sale is like being a bridesmaid at a friend’s wedding. TAP ROOT is a coming-of-age novel set in the 1970s, about a girl who believes her mother has gone missing. After finding her mother living in a secret room in the basement, the nine-year-old girl must come to terms with their irrevocably changed relationship. Now that’s intense. I can’t wait to read it.

For my son, Jonathan: He’s not off to see the wizard, he IS the wizard. Jonathan’s in the final weeks of practice for his high school musical production of THE WIZARD OF OZ. Tomorrow we’re going out costume shopping and I’m going to have fun making his turban for the scene when he’s Professor Marvel.

For Southern California Book Lovers: This weekend is the LA Times Festival of Books. I’ll be working a shift on Saturday at the California Writers Club booth (12-2) and then enjoying myself for the rest of the day. This is an amazing two days of author signings, lectures, readings, panels, and exhibits. If you’re there, stop by the CWC and say hello.

8 comments:

Stacy said...

High school drama is so fun. Besides, it's not every day your kid gets to wear a turban.

Your friend's novel sounds great.

billie said...

It's funny to read the blog of someone you've come to know a bit online and feel like you know the family they're updating about, as well as proud of their accomplishments!

Your son being the Wizard makes me smile. :)

Carolyn Burns Bass said...

Stacy~ The turban is of gold lame fabric, wrapped around his head several times, the ends tucked under so they don't look like horns sticking up. We found an amazing green sequined cocktail dress that I reconfigured for his wizard garb. It's going to be a blast.

Billie~ Likewise. I hope we'll have a chance to meet this summer in NC. Now I'm off to visit your blog!

Anonymous said...

Hi Carolyn-- you stopped by my blog (Long Beach Pike) a while back. I'll be at UCLA this weekend. 10:30 reading on Etc. stage with WriteGirl, and booth duty right before you do booth duty (11-12) at WriteGirl booth. Food stage level. Come on by. I've got a panel session at 12:30, don't know if I'll make it by CalWriters before then. I'll be wearing black and blue hat.

Anonymous said...

er, addition. 10:30 am TOMORROW, saturday. and booth duty tomorrow.

Allie said...

Hi there, thanks a lot for visiting my blogs, and commenting! Your son's production sounds like a blast; I've always regretted that I wasn't more involved in drama and so on in school. Then again, I'm probably rewriting history - I was a really bad actor!

Carolyn Burns Bass said...

Susan~ The Festival was fabulous, wasn't it?

Ellesappelle~ Thanks for stopping by. I'll visit your blogs more often.

Anonymous said...

Fabulous squees to all. I'm a big supporter of making the sale sans agent.