From the RWA National Website:

2007 Golden Heart Romantic Suspense Finalists

To see all the finalists, click here.

Okay, I have no idea if that’s a real word or not, but I like it, so I’m going with it.

What has me all twitterish??? Something so simple it’s stupid.

During my weekly phone conversation with my mother, during which she once again managed to make me feel guilty about the fact she has yet to read my latest book, she informed me that my cousin is writing a book of her own. I was so excited when I heard this news, I immediately emailed my cousin in Virginia, whom I haven’t spoken with since last fall, and pretty much demanded the skinny. And you know what? Mother dear was right. My cousin’s truly caught the writing bug!!!

My family’s support of my writing is wonderful. My critique partners are gold. But one is not the other, and one will never understand the other in the way that a writing family member can. I’m so excited to have someone in the family who knows what I’m going through, who not only understands it, but is going through it with me! So cool. AND cool to have someone – especially someone I love dearly like my cousin – to talk to and bounce writing ideas and topics around with.

See? All-A-Twitter.

After we emailed back and forth several times, I learned she’s several chapters into her first book. I had to bite my tongue not to overwhelm her with information. I did, however, direct her to RWA and told her to join, join, join! She’s writing women’s fiction, so I think I may be able to nudge her into it. But the really cool part???? We rarely get to see each other because we live on opposite coasts. Last summer when I was in Atlanta for the RWA Conference, we all met up at her sister’s house for the weekend. It was the first time I’d seen her in close to ten years. But now, if she joins RWA, I may be able to talk her into going to the conference each year, and that’s an awesome excuse to get together more often. I’m thrilled.

Totally-A-Twitter.

Hmmm…wonder if I can talk her into Dallas…

Yes. This is me. I’m here. It’s been ages.

Have I been off on vacation enjoying the sun and fun? No. Have I been writing like a fiend, ignoring email and blogs and real life? Um, I wish, but no. Have I been pulling my eyebrows out one by one because I’m so frustrated I can barely see straight? Well, actually, yeah, that’s a little more like it.

It always amazes me how tied to technology we are. And when that technology goes loco, there goes your sanity.

My computer decided to wig out on me. My computer which is barely a year old, which I love and use every flippin’ day. It was doing this weird rebooting/freezing thing, so I immediately thought, virus, and took it in for service. (Even though my virus checker is updated and says all is well…sigh.) I dropped it off last weekend and have called the store every day this week to check on the status (I’m sure they are sick to death of me, but tough. This is my computer we’re talking about). Lo and behold (and why am I surprised?) they didn’t get to it until Thursday night, where they discovered it kept rebooting so they couldn’t even get a good look inside. They told me Friday it has to be sent out for service and I’m looking at a two-week turnaround, minumum.

ARRGHGHG. Can you see me pulling my eyebrows out one by one?

Luckily, I saved the wip on a zip drive before taking the darn computer in, so I can work on it if I have access to a computer. Problem? I don’t have access on a normal day. We have an old laptop that I use in cases of emergency, but it’s slow and the space bar sticks, and it’s temperamental with the power cord – as in, I don’t use it anymore because we had to have the power jack replaced and it’s still a POS. I used it for a day, then my daughter came running into the room where I was working to tell me something life altering (like what so-and-so said at school today), tripped over the power cord and killed that computer. We’re talking dead, finished, totally out of commission. Result? More eyebrows lost, lots of screaming and a daughter who has no idea why her mother is losing her mind. To top it off, the DH was at a meeting out of town all week with his computer, so I have been not only computer-less, but internet-less as well. Man, I can’t believe how much that set me on edge this week.

So here I am, on the DH’s computer right now checking email. Because of his work schedule I’ll be able to do that on weekends and evenings, but won’t have access during the day (let’s all give a collective ARRRGHGHGH!). The really sucky part is I need to write. And not having the opportunity is killing me. I’ve tried the ol’ handwriting thing, but it just doesn’t work for me. My hand just can’t write as fast as my brain thinks, and I end up losing half of whatever scene it is I’m working on. So today I’m going to try to get some serious writing done. And I’ll probably be staying up late into the night working because that’s the only chance I’ll have next week. I may be scarce, but I’ll try to check in when I can.

Please tell me your week was better than mine.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate having my picture taken? If not, let me say it clearly:

I hate having my picture taken!

I have to have this Golden Heart picture turned in to the RWA office by Monday. Needless to say, it’s been a major headache. (I know, poor me. But really, this is tough.) First of all, between my DH’s work schedule, baseball practices and life in general, finding time to get my picture taken either professionally or by the DH has been a nightmare. Add to that the fact my hormones chose this week to wig out on my face and the fact I had to wait to get an appt to get my hair done, oh and that I’ve been watching my nephew which means an added kid around the house – and you can see my frustration. Not fun.

So today, since DH was working from home and the weather was cooperating, I had the hubby snap some photos of me while the kids were napping. Let me just say…DH has no photographic skills whatsoever. He’s a great guy, but the camera is not his friend (or mine when it’s in his hands). We went outside. He took a bunch of photos in the park behind our house. All turned out like crap. I decided to change my clothes because maybe it was the shirt and not his skills. No go. The next set was equally (if not more) awful. Seriously. Heinous pictures of me. Must be that whole blinded-by-love thing because in every photo I have a stupid look on my face. Definitely not GH photo-material.

So, in a moment of despair, when I sent the DH back to his office and said “yeah, whatever, I’ll make due,” I handed the camera to my four year old and said, “Here. Snap some photos of mommy.” And guess what? Turns out HE has photographic skills!!! (Unlike his dad).

So, without further ado….here’s the photo (taken by my four-year-old) that I’m planning to send in for the GH:

What do you think? Joan’s going to photoshop it up for me and make me look pretty. I’m hoping she can take about ten years and ten pounds off. Wishful thinking? Probably.