Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Coolest Room In the House

In another bit of sixth grade memorabilia, I found a real prophecy. Sister Francis Michele had a bit of fun guessing what we would all be doing in the year 2000. She wrote that I would be the owner of a rare book shop in London. At first I laughed, but then realized she was pretty darn intuitive. She picked up on my love of reading, but how could she have known about my affinity for British accents?

I do get the warm fuzzies every time I walk into a book store - especially ones with coffee and arm chairs. Libraries are even better. I'll never forget when La Salle High School updated their's with a fireplace and huge comfy sofas. Too bad it was an all boys school and I was already in my 20s.

Back in my reporter days, I wrote a feature on medieval prayer books that got me into the rare books section at the Philadelphia Library. You would have thought I'd gotten tickets to a great game. Well, for me it was the Super Bowl of books. It was thrilling to see the same intricate manuscripts that another woman held in the 1500s.

Writer Steven Levy featured Internet innovator Jay Walker's amazing personal library in the October issue of Wired magazine. There's a man who knows what to do with his money! Not only is it architecturally astounding, it's filled with treasures such as a 16th century book of jousting and an original Sputnik 1 satellite hanging from the ceiling.

We transformed the useless formal living room in our home (everyone hangs in the kitchen no matter what) into a little library. Nothing is better than being surrounded by my favorite books, art and antique typewriter. I think I'll go settle down into that huge leather sofa with a page turner and a cup of tea - no make that glass of wine.

Who needs London?

Limerick

My mom just gave me a folder of my earliest writing. Nothing there indicated I'd make a living at crafting prose. My grammar and spelling were God awful. However, this limerick from sixth grade was a bit prophetic.

There once was a girl named Sue.
She always had the flu.
She missed school
and played pool.
She always broke the cue.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

From the Flipside of Holiday Fun

Happy New Year! I haven't blogged because over the holidays I'm either the happy hostess or at QVC. This year, I managed to have two parties at home, while on QVC. I missed my own fun!

The week after Christmas, I am always, and I mean always, sick. But I'm recovered and I've been writing my novel. I may finish it yet. Dare I give myself a deadline? Hmm. Why not? Let's say February 25th. You all hold me to it.

My resolution is to be more productive. So far, so good. I dusted off the treadmill, queries are flying out, pages are being filled and I'm trying so hard not to give in to time suckers. I'm even trying out this thing called sleep. I find it helps me get more done while I am awake.

I will have to forgo my new friend REM tonight, though. I'll be on air overnight and home just in time to get my day started. Only sweet day dreams for me.