Home from vacation

Despite the unpacking and mountains of laundry and difficulty in cramming everyone's clothes back into their drawers (do garments expand on vacation?), it's good to be home. For me, it was a restorative vacation, mostly relaxing by the pool in my parents' backyard, with Florida's cloudless sky reminding me to let go of my stress and appreciate my blessings. The kids splashed around in the water and enjoyed the lavish attention of four starry-eyed adults who think the sun, moon and earth revolve around them.

On the publishing front, I did a reading in Boca Raton, arranged for me by my south Florida publicity team (thanks Mom! thanks Dad!). It was well attended by folks who struck me as real readers, so I'm hopeful that at least a few of them will buy the book when it comes out.

My father, above, introduced me. Since he's notoriously Republican, he started off the festivities by pretending he thought he was at a George Bush fundraiser. Ha! First thing I did when I took the podium was to make sure the crowd knew that I was not there to support Dubya. Heaven forbid.

I got the feeling more of the crowd were on my side of the political spectrum, but it's Florida, so what difference does it make? Even if I took a vote, George Bush would somehow win.

I also popped into a few local bookstores to introduce myself and leave behind a flyer about SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE APPLEWOOD PTA. So for the warm reception I got, big thanks to the folks at the Barnes and Noble in Boca Raton, the Borders in Boca Raton and the Books-A-Million in Delray Beach (and sending all good wishes to the folks at the Books-A-Million in Deerfield Beach, who are busy getting the hurricane-damaged store back in shape).

And now the relaxing stops. This week, I have to do one last edit on THE SMART ONE before sending it off to my agents and editor. Then I have to start working on my third book for real. It's a high concept story and I'm in a bit of a panic about whether or not I can pull it off.