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Wow! What a wild week!

I left for Houston Sunday night, flying on a buddy pass. My good friend Karen's husband flies for Continental. Flying on a buddy pass is great, but it is not for the faint of heart. You're on standby, which means that you are among the "non-revs" (those of us without reservations), and you will get on the plane if, and only if, the seats aren't all bought up and filled. Sunday was cool. Up until an hour before flight time, there were still several seats left, so I headed on out to the airport, fairly confident I would get on.




I was only able to catch the first quarter of the Super Bowl as I was en route Sunday night, sitting in the Nashville airport bar, drinking beer with a lot of strange men, and missing a good party at my brother-in-law's house, ha! I was totally rooting for the Colts, given my Indianapolis connection, when, about .34 seconds into the game, on the first kick-off, the Bears ran for about four-zillion yards and scored a touchdown. On the FIRST play of the game. I was feeling mighty fickle for a few minutes, but I decided to be strong and keep my head on straight and hang with Peyton Manning and the Colts. Before too long, I was called and informed I had a seat, so I had to forego the rest of the game. The pilot kept me updated on the score though, and I was glad I hadn't given into my fair-weather fan tendencies, because the Colts came back and TOOK IT! I was happy for Peyton Manning and his Super Bowl MVP win, I have to say!

In Houston, I stayed at Karen's house. It was late, so we chatted and then went on to bed. Over the course of Monday, we yakked and chatted and went to lunch, and then it was time to go to dinner before the SCBWI meeting at which I was presenting. We went to a German restaurant called Rudi Lechner's ("Serving Houston for 30 Years!"), where Karen and I dined with Susan Mitchell, my beloved Mary Wade, and Carmen Bredesen.



(from l-r: Susan, me, Mary, Karen and Carmen)

We had a lovely dinner, then we headed over to the place (I knew NOT where I was) where the monthly meetings of the Houston-area SCBWI are held. I was in for a treat! About 40 folks showed up, including a number of visitors! After monthly business, I performed my Harried Housewife slide show and then talked a bit about The Legend of Zoey and how that all came to pass, and then I did a Q&A. The Q&A lasted for a good 45 minutes, which was so exciting because everyone asked the BEST questions! Here are a couple of pics of my audience:


(That's my bud, Dotti Enderle, in the jersey-type shirt and smiling! To her left (our right) is Vicki Sansum, and the two of them have written a picture book together that will be coming out soon! You go, girls!)


(Lovely Houston Writer and Hostess-with-the Mostest, Karen, far left in black, and Mary in the middle of the background.)

After the meeting, Karen and I went to a fun English pub in The Woodlands and toasted the trip and had a good time talking, but we didn't stay out too late, as I was on standby for the earliest flight of the day leaving Houston, which meant we had to leave for the airport no later than 5:45 AM. I couldn't sleep. I finally got out of the bed at 5:00 and headed into the bathroom. Just as I was ready to jump into the shower, Karen tapped on the door to let me know that the flight had filled up overnight. So I went back to bed, read for an hour, then dozed until 10:00. Then we chatted the day away about writing and a number of other things, then headed to the airport at 5:30 to get me on the LAST flight of the day. The porter outside pulled up my name and told us that there was some manner of "restriction" on me. I never did get whether it was about time or my baggage or what, but he grabbed up my suitcase and told me to follow him. We ran into the airport where he busted a move to the head of a long line and got my bag checked in the nick of time, it appears, then flew me over to security and pushed to the front of the line. I gave the man five bucks and told him to go back and tell Karen (who was waiting on the curb) that I was making it through security and I'd call later. I reached my gate, breathless and worried. Now, I have to say that the gate setup in Terminal A in Houston is totally RIGHTEOUS. Right beside my gate was a nifty snack bar/bar. And sitting around the bar were several OTHER Nashvillians flying on standby for various reasons. We ended having an impromptu "Miller Time" party and discussing which of the already ticketed passengers we each thought we could take on in an arm-wrestling contest, if it came down to it. No arm wrestling was necessary, I'm happy to report. We all made it onto the plane, happy and smiling. We did, however, fight over the bathroom on the plane a few times . . .

I want to give a GIANT shout-out to Continental. The planes were comfy, the flights were good, and we got where we were headed!

I reached home again about midnight Tuesday night, fell into the bed and got up at dawn Wednesday to finish up my piece for THE WRITER. Of course, disaster struck. My dining room ceiling was falling in from an undetected leak, and I had to endure two whole days of drywall crews in and out for hours at a time, noisily singing and talking in Spanish (which they did NOT realize that I completely understood, ha, but, fortunately, no one said anything bad about ME!). So I was trying to write my article and its accompanying three sidebars, tired and under less-than-stellar conditions but, somehow, I persevered and subbed it, on time.

Friday, I spent hours on the phone chasing down two stories for Business Tennessee Magazine. One of the pieces I'm working on is a big focus on Montgomery County, where I spent a number of my formative years. On Monday, I'm riding up there early to go with a group of Clarksville and Hopkinsville citizens, on a bus, up to Fort Campbell, KY, where I was born, and where my father was stationed for many years, to attend a briefing with the new Commanding General. I'm totally stoked. I'll report more on this later.



My writing life will continue its wild pace, as I'm in the process of signing a contract to write a biography (more about this later), and I've already lined up pieces due in February, March, April and May. I plan to spend some quality time with my calendar tomorrow and map out a schedule that will accomodate my LIFE (husband, the kids, their school and extracurricular activities) as well as the WORK. In the meantime, I plan to finish my YA-in-progress, which has been languishing since last I wrote at 44K words, alas! I hope to finish that draft by February 27. That's the plan, anyway . . . 

All of this is uppermost on my mind, too, due to a revelation/epiphany I had a couple of months ago about being a working writer and what, exactly, that means. Still formulating my thoughts, but I plan to post about that soon.

Meanwhile, Nashville is COLD for Nashville. Here's a reminder that summer WILL come!


(Jack feeds the seagulls in Fort Myers!)

Until next time!
XO Candie