Me and Jon Lovitz, er, Stephen King

Anyone remember this SNL skit? If you do, you're old, like me. Haha. Anyway, Jon Lovitz plays Stephen King, furiously tapping away on a smith-corola or similar. In those days, Stephen King had so many books out he had to release some of them under a pseudonym.

I'm going from memory here (because I can't find the actual clip online), but as I recall, the interviewer asks Mr. King about his prolificness (yes, it's a word~I looked it up :) and suddenly, inexplicably, the typing stops. Panic overtakes Mr. King and he begins to bemoan his writer's block, uttering phrases like, It's over! I'll never be able to write again! My career is gone!

After a comedic pause, a thought drops into his mind, he blithely says, "nevermind", and then he's back to furiously tapping those keys.

This is so my life.

California wavin'

It's tough to tell by this pic taken with my cell, but those are some pretty nice-sized waves cresting in the distance. After a week of rain (and more rain) we had a sunny break over the weekend. Tuesday, though, the spigot'll be turned back on (and I'll get to keep wearin' cute boots :)

In other news, The Bachelor's on tonight and silly as it seems, can't wait to switch off the computer and watch something brainless, and thankfully, pretty tame. Hey, we all have our vices ... ;-)

Have a beachy day, my friends, wherever you are!

Storm watch

The first part of the video shows waves at the famed Rincon, but it's the Mussel Shoals clip that will give you a better idea of the ocean surges that have been happening up and down the coast. More thunder and rain expected today!

Wet Wednesday!

Rain continues to fall and wreak havoc out here on the coast (although you wouldn't know by the flip-flop shod feet I spotted in downtown Ventura yesterday during a clearing). Anyway, here's some video of what the weather's doing to the pier. Good times. (If you're a surfer, anyway :)

Roadtrippin'

My youngest missed out on church winter camp this past weekend because she'd already committed to an all-star soccer tourney. At the time, we didn't realize they'd choose a holiday weekend to host the tourney (grrr). To cheer her up, I decided rather last minute to take the girls on a ROADTRIP after the last game on Sunday morning.

Didn't check the weather report beforehand, though. Big storm rolled in to Cambria (the small town that serves as part of the inspiration for my Otter Bay Novels) on Sunday and stayed til, oh, right about the time we had to check out. Lol... My older daughter loves the rain, so she was happy. Wet, but happy.

So anyhoo, we ate, we shopped, we got stuck in a 'gulley washer' and sat in my car, waiting it out. Our tour of Hearst Castle got cancelled, but we found other fun things to research for my books, like the 1920-something cabin that the heroine in my 2011 release finds in the woods. My youngest spotted it while I tried to keep us from driving off a cliff. Anyway, we drove into the driveway to poke around, and hoped the neighbors wouldn't call the cops, haha.

Later we ended up at Nitwit Ridge (see pic). Built years ago by an eccentric gent, the rain soaked "Poor Man's Hearst Castle" still stands at the base of a hill in Cambria. It's made out of all kinds of local 'finds' such as beer cans, car parts and on the pretty flip side, mounds of abalone shells pried off local rocks. A sign advertised tours at 1pm, but I doubted it. "Looks like it's about to come down," I told the girls.

We ended up in SLO (San Luis Obispo) for yummy Mexican fare at Tio Alberto's, then headed home. As I sit here, the rain's whipping through my back yard and I'm determined not to get caught up watching it through my window. LOTS to write today, and even though the weather tried to derail my research, it failed 'cuz I'm raring to go,

Have a beachy day, my friends (rain or shine!) ~ wherever you are :)

spread the Word :-)

Book sale for Haiti

Happy Friday my beach-lovin' friends! It's a beautiful day here on the west coast, perfect for a lead in to a weekend of...soccer. Ha ha, you thought I was going to say beachcombing or surfing or something equally beachy. Reality is, our youngest is a soccer tiger and she's in the first of two tourneys this month. So that's where I'll be (probably with a laptop since I've got a ton of writing to do.)

Before I sign off for a few days, wanted to let you know of another way you can help Haitian children. Through this weekend, ALL proceeds from the sales of my first two books, Chocolate Beach and Truffles by the Sea at Julie's Beach Shop will be sent to Compassion International ~ Haiti. A great time to stock up on gifts for other beach-lovin' friends, while also giving to children who desperately need our compassion and generosity.

Have a blessed and beachy weekend, my friends ~ wherever you are!

Having compassion

Writing with a heavy heart today as more pictures and information about the earthquake in Haiti pour in. Although I do not have definite information on the status of our sponsored child, Nicole, and her family, I have learned that they live far north of the quake's epicenter. Grateful news to receive! Compassion International serves more than 65,000 children in Haiti and about a third live quite close to hardest hit areas. Compassion needs help, so please consider giving generously.

For Shore!

Hope this whets your appetite for A Shore Thing! Thanks to B&H Fiction for putting together this fast-moving and fun trailer for my summer release. You guys rock!

clueless

Happy New Year! On a couple of deadlines right now (edits for one book, and writing another one) so the blogging's been sparse. Sorry! My heart's been racing and I feel more overwhelmed than usual, yet I know I'm in a good place because my mind's caught up with the story I'm working on. In other words, I'm thinking/plotting all the time. Good for the novel, but not so good for life.

Here are a few lame-head things I've done in the past couple of days while my mind's been occupado:

* Drove to grocery store instead of bank.
* Made it to the bank, and withdrew cash to buy groceries, etc. Went to grocery store (again) and paid with debit card, totally forgetting I'd just picked up cash (doh).
* Ordered myself a kid's meal at Subway ... didn't have a clue until the cashier asked, "Is this for a girl or a boy?" (And yes, I'm lovin' the cute pink beach bag that came with the meal.)
* Let the chai tea boil over while I was working on a scene ~ SUCH a mess.

Ah, well. When the book I'm working on finally makes it to shelves in 2011, my weirdness will be a distant memory (right???) Anyway, I'm switching gears this evening and looking over the final edits for A Shore Thing which releases this July. That's a pic up there at the top. It's already on Amazon and other places, and I'm excited because it's my first foray into writing a second point of view: the male protag's. Woo-hoo!