Aloha, friends---
Well, I'm back from the road trip to sunny southern California. We got our son set up in his apartment for his summer internship and said goodbye...only to get a phone call a week later that his wisdom teeth were still hurting. Of course I kicked into full helicopter mom mode and got him set up with an oral surgeon in Los Angeles, who called to say that they were rushing my son into immediate surgery. Wow. I have to say, it was absolutely horrible to have my child (even though he is a man now), alone and sick in a city fifteen hundred miles away. I don't think I slept well for days. Even worse was the fact that he was not healing well, and I knew it, and his oral surgeon totally patted my head and blew my off. Acted like I was a silly mom who needed to be placated. Don't you HATE that? I felt like pulling a Glenn Close and yelling, "I won't be ignored..." But of course, I was ignored, and he was sick. All I can say is that I'm glad I semi over reacted when he called to say it wasn't healing right. Those infections can turn bad much too quickly.
But now, finally, life is slowing turning back into its normal position. Although Seattle has still not seen the sun since I've been home, I do know that summer is on it's way. It's just stopped somewhere for a drink.
I'm beginning the copy editing of the book that's coming out in February. Soon I'll have a cover to show you all, and it won't be long at all before I'll be running a contest for one of you to read the manuscript--mistakes and all.
Best of all, I'm going away for a weekend with a girlfriend. It's our brainstorming/spa weekend where we spend about 48 hours yakking about the books we're going to start writing, sipping wine, and visiting the spa. No kids, no husbands, no schedules. Nothing to talk about except our books and our lives. In short, pure heaven.
Before I head off, though, I have a few bits of business to attend to. First of all, I promised all of you some scoop about my Africa trip, which is finally coming together. Honestly, my husband and I have never planned a trip of this magnitude before, and it's daunting. Airlines, hotels, passports, visas, shots, clothing. We're going a little mad getting ready for all of it. But one thing I've known from the beginning, is that I want to give back a little, and many of you have expressed a similar desire. So here goes: I've thrown my support behind a couple of Africa charities for this year. First on the list is the Botswana Book Project. This is an organization that collects books for schools in Africa. Can you imagine what it's like to live without books? One shudders at the thought. It seemed a perfect fit for me...and quite possibly for many of you as well. So if any of you would like to join me in the effort, the Book Project is looking for clean paperback novels to send off this July for the Get Botswana reading drive. This year, instead of school books, they want genre novels that people will enjoy reading in their spare time.
Please send books (or donations) to:
Books for Africa
Botswana Book Project
c/o Pam Shelton
715 East Minehaha Ave
St. Paul, MN 55106
Any donations sent before July 1, will make in the next shipment. Pam and I thank you all in advance for your help.
And here are my books/movie recommendations for the week: The Spiritualist, by Megan Chance. Yes, Megan is a good friend of mine, but she's still written a heck of a great book. :)
I have also read and loved this month--The Year of Fog, by Michelle Richmond, Domestic Affairs by Eileen Goudge, and the Sex and the City movie.
What about you guys? Any recommendations for me this week?
Aloha and have a great summer weekend---
Kristin
PS: In the endless quest to master this whole blogging photo thing, I've sent along a photo from my book tour this year. This was a great party/book night put together by two great bookstores--Liberty Bay Books in Poulsbo and Eagle Harbor Books. As you can probably tell, we had a lot of fun...
