The Countdown Begins

A week from today we will be waking up with a new President and First Family.

Doesn't that excite you, to be emerging from the last Crazy 8 years?

Or has the elation of the election, and all those calls to man up, do the right thing, study up, bring positive change, live your best life, etc... worn off?

I hope we can all keep the same sense of excitement we all felt on that night in November on election day. I'm trying...
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Hot... Links

For those of you in the rest of the (cold and snowy) U.S. -- it's going to be 90 and windy today in parts of L.A. But the crazy part... it's "cold" at night and we need our heaters on.

Some more original blogging soon. In the meantime, some of the hot links and blogs I'm checking out lately.

Tayari Jones is in Africa again, doing some writing and outreach work.

Kim Lawson Roby got a book optioned for series by Lifetime. That's hot.

Writers who respect their audience. That's hot. Tom Casiello, soap scribe, summarizes some of As The World Turns' 1980s "long story" written by soap legend Douglas Marland.

And the same rules (appreciation for audience) apply to novels too, according to J.A. Konrath's entry, Hail Caesar.

White Readers Meet Black Writers blog shares the list of NAACP Image Award nominees in literature.
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Easy Like Sunday Morning Links

Been enjoying all the clips of the Estelle concert at our Grand Opening on Friday. Gotta love students and their tech savvy-ness. Here's a few for you: American Boy and Come Over.

I need a new book to read, now that I have a little bit of free time on my hands. What fiction would you recommend? To give you an idea of my reading style, the last book I read was Dirty Girls on Top by Alisa Valdes Rodriguez, and before that Seen It All, Done The Rest by Pearl Cleage.

Melinda Doolittle, one of my favorite American Idol contestants, has her debut CD coming out in less than a month. Listen to some clips on her website. Pass the word...

It's awards season... this afternoon The Golden Globes. With the bad economy, many say the red carpet style will be "Empathy Chic". We'll see... tune in to the Red Carpet festivities on E today! And speaking of movies, has anyone seen Bride Wars? It looks kinda cute and funny to me!

It's 80 and sunny in L.A. today. I'm out to enjoy the day before the Golden Globes later...
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Let The Writing Begin... Again

For about the past six months, I've let my writing side of my professional life go to the "B-list" of to-do list. Not because I don't care about that part of my life -- or the readers who have bought, read, or borrowed my two novels.

I keep a day job at a campus, and for the past six months I've chaired the Grand Opening committee of my campus' Student Union. The event happened yesterday from 3 - 10 pm and it was FABULOUS if I must say. Once pics are up online, I'll share because I'm proud.

From lighting design, to food, to security, to invitations and guest lists, to entertainment, to timing the script to the confetti bursts, to going WAY over budget lol, to our headliner ESTELLE it was fabulous. And if any of you ever get a chance to work with Estelle for an event you're planning -- she and her people are so cool and easy to work with.

But back to writing. Well, at least I will be. For the past six months working with a fabulous committee, I've put the Grand Opening first. It's been a very fun task. I enjoyed being a dedicated team member for it (some say compulsive, and over-detailed workaholic). Now I kinda have that post-event lull like -- what now? Believe me, now I completely understand post-partem depression for new moms, or why entertainers deal with so much mental angst... the post-event part is hard.

I'm excited to move my writing life back to the A-list of my to-do list. First, I gotta get my third novel out of editing purgatory. Then I have a long list of ideas that I plan to make happen on the page this year.

Let the writing begin... again!
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Age Ain't Nothing But...

If you're on As The World Turns, age is a drama-producer, especially after a grandmother finds out her new husband wants to bed her grandson.

If you're in real life, you realize that you've only got one life to live... so live it. I had to sit with a colleague who will be turning "almost 50" in a few days.

She's single, now takes care of and lives with elderly parents, but definitely had her wild phase, but now feels she let those "wild days" go on a little while too long... since she's "almost 50" and feels like her prospects are no longer coming out the woodwork like the old days.

Her advice, though, to me... "You can still party well into your 30s, but there comes a slippery slope moment from party animal to settle down... don't slip on the slope like I did and let your settle down with someone pass by."

Age. When is the slippery slope? Or is there one? Just a thought, as I think about my colleage who is lamenting turning "almost 50."
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Loving Lady Gaga CD

On a completely different note... I'm loving Lady Gada's CD, The Fame.

A friend bought me a copy for holiday. It's been my gym music for the past few days. Really good lyrics to go with the dancey beats. Who knew I'd fall for Lady Gaga.

OK. That's all.
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I Got An Acquaintance That Needs Reconsidering

So I have a friend/acquaintance who I'm starting to have snobbish thoughts about/aimed toward him. Wondering what you think? Or if you've had a similar situation?

The thoughts had kinda crept up just before the holidays. I let them marinate while I was away. Last night we hung out, and I had thoughts that I kinda don't want him to be part of my "group" anymore. I feel guilty about those thoughts.

The main reason. I feel things aren't reciprocal. Now, I can understand being short on cash in between paychecks. I can even understand that we are from different professional/social backgrounds, so things can't be equal, we can't do the same things, etc... Everyone experiences that. When we're doing rounds at the bar, he's always there with his order. When it's his turn for rounds, he need to take a bathroom break and returns with his solo drink. His hand is always out for gum, mints, a couple dollars for one of the cute dancers, etc... Another friend of my "group" told me he bought El Cheapo's New Year's Eve party ticket.

Shallow stuff to be reflecting on, huh?

The part I'm struggling with is the non-reciprocal friendship part. Now usually, in normal friendships, your initial greetings are "Hi" "How are you?" "What's up?" "How have you been?" etc... Not, "Do I look good?" or "Do I look like a top or bottom tonight?" or "How you like my outfit?" My inner snob is like, "Is that ALL you can greet me with, and you're 30 y.o.?"

Is that bad? I'm a nice guy, try to keep like drama free, quiet, not a snob at all. How can I be... I've got flaws like everyone else.

But... How do you deal with your inner snob when it comes to friendships? Is this shallow stuff that's not worth sweating? Is it worth a group intervention? Or do you slowly let a relationship drift away without any sort of processing? Shoot, it's a New Year.

Oh and by the way, I'm not even worried that he'll read this blog. My inner snob knows he doesn't read... ANYthing! :-)
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Good Morning 09!

Yes, it's January 2... and no, I didn't just wake up from New Year's Eve celebrations. I'm going to treat this day as a regular work day -- yeah, starting to work on a Friday, instead of starting on Monday like most folks will be doing.

As for the crush and the New Year's party. Didn't even show up. Got all dressed up for the ball and no prince! But it was cool. I had lots of fun anyway, and what's that saying -- one nail replaces the other one? I met a couple of new folks -- COMPLETELY new folks who are not connected to any of my friends, organizations, work, etc... That's a good thing. I'll see crush at the gym at some point this wknd, I'm sure :-)

BTW, I got that quote, "One nail replaces the other one" from Alisa Valdes Rodriguez's Dirty Girls On Top, which I finally finished reading over holiday break. Yes, I started reading in July when it came out. Yes, life happened. But yes, I finished reading it on the cross country flight and absolutely loved it. So get a copy for yourself or for one of your friends.

I didn't tell you I survived being without a cell phone over the holidays, but I did. Left my charger in L.A. while I was in Detroit. Phone was dead within a day. Thank God for Facebook, MySpace, and other creative online ways of communicating.

Hope it's a good morning for you. Hope you're still working on those goals you've set for yourself. More writing later...
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