I know, I shouldn't complain. But meeting deadlines is hard and I don't get up until noon. Still, I have managed to consent to be a presenter at the Muse Online Writers Workshop, it's free, which means I'm free, but it is not going to be easy. Not only will I be presenting, but I am available for the whole week on the chat board for questions. My topic: How do I use psychology in my writing ---and how you can too. This is going to be a book. It's already a chapter in a book, and a column in Apollo's Lyre, which I'm an Editor-in-Chief.

Meanwhile, I'm in a flash fiction critique group, which has taught me so much that I don't think I could make a short story long if I had to now. I just recently got a job that pays a small amount, and all I had to do was come up with a thousand words on their topic. ONLY a thousand. I couldn't do it. I tried. I really, really tried. Finally I turned in roughly 800 words and said not to pay me since it was my first job and I'd get the hang of it, but I should have definitely signed up for the shorter stories. Pay is less, but I could knock them out so much quicker.

And I'm still crying. But after all the tv shows, which were wonderful and somehow comforting, I've gotten it out of my system for at least another year. Maybe I should travel AFTER September next time, but I love to travel any time of year.

Saw India Arie last night in small venue here in Redding, CA. She definitely has her fans, and is wonderful to watch. Young, cool, hot, she will be excellent as she grows as an artist! Couldn't have asked for a better performance. All right here without having to travel out of town.

I spent much of the summer traveling from California to Florida via Las Vegas for a couple of days and Atlanta for airport nightmares. While the beach was wonderful, the world was busy trying to keep up with terrorists. The terrorists are winning. In Las Vegas, we were told all the major airports in S.Cal and Utah and Nevada were closed for an unknown reason and they didn't know when it would be back up. Then in New York the same thing happened apparently.

It turned out to only be for three hours, but no one knew why the backup system didn't kick in, and then there were the alarms. In our very nice hotel in Vegas, The Westin, alarms went on for hours, literally, with some annoying voice telling us not to worry. The same thing happened in one of the airports. Alarms so loud and shrill you wanted to scream yourself, with a voiceover saying "We have an emergency reported, go on about your business." Huh? No one had a clue what that meant.