Embarrassing Editor Moments

Remember how nervous you were the first time you met your EDITOR?

So here's my embarrassing first-time-meeting-editor moment.....

My editor from Carolrhoda (back when I was writing biographies) was in Boston for a conference and we arranged to meet - for the first time.

I was so new and so green and so, well, nervous.

I'd never had a real live face-to-face meeting with an editor before.

We had lunch at a restaurant in Boston. I survived (but probably had spinach in my teeth).

Afterwards, we went to the convention center where she was attending the conference. I was following her and not paying attention and we went through a revolving door. Okay, so, since I wasn't paying attention, I ended up in the same section of the revolving door as she was in, if you know what I mean.

So I'm doing itty bitty little shuffle steps to keep from crashing right into the back of her -

- and then my shoulder-bag purse somehow got stuck in the section of the revolving door behind us.

So, I'm, like, getting semi-strangled, and the door is jammed and the guy in the section of the door behind us is trying to free the purse and, well....

It's probably hard for you to even visualize this, but trust me...

IT WAS NOT GOOD.

And I did not look like a cool person.

Wanted....

...one candelabrum.

See that candle holder? The one with the black shade and the three candles? The one nestled in there among the whiskey bottles?

I want it.

I need it.

I must have it.








I have looked and looked and looked.

It is called a bouillotte candelabrum.

I cannot find it.

It must NOT be electric.

I know this has nothing whatsoever to do with writing, but, hey, I just thought I'd give it a try.

Actually, I did find one once in an antique store. It went down like this:

Snotty lady: May I help you?

Me: Yes. I'm interested in this bouillotte candelabrum. [ha! She didn't think I'd know that term.]

Snotty lady: Oh? Really?

Me: How much is it?

Snotty lady: Let me check this big expensive leather book I have on my 15th century mahogany desk.

Me: Okay, but make it snappy. My driver is waiting outside. [Naw, I didn't really say that. But I should have.]

Snotty lady: It's $5500.

Me:

Snotty lady: Shall I wrap it up for you?

Me: Um, let me think about it.

So - I need to find a bouillotte candelabrum for less than $5500. Preferably less than $3300. Preferably less than $1000. Preferably less than.....

Coonhounds

According to my Statcounter, someone in Blountsville, Alabama, found my blog by googling "coonhound."

:-)

Told ya...

If there is one person in the entire universe who actually read my 8 Facts post (come on, there must be one person...), fact #2 was that I tape Judge Judy (and watch it) every day.

You may find that hard to believe, but it is true. To prove it, here is the judge's gavel given to me by my husband and son as a symbol of my ridiculous love of Judge Judy.

But....

... Stacy DeKeyser gets to be Junior Soul Sister because she writes children's books and has been to Colonel Pool's BBQ Restaurant and Pig Hill of Fame in Ellijay, Georgia (and it was closed the day she was there, too).

Definitely Soul Sisters

Okay, so my Smoky Mountain Soul Sister I told you about - Kerry Madden? Well, I just found out she's been to the Cross Garden in Prattville, Alabama. I went there on my recent roadtrip.

Is that weird or what?

Raise your hand if you write children's books set in the Smoky Mountains and have been to the Cross Garden in Prattville, Alabama.

Write No Evil

My mother-in-law gave me this great monkey pen holder. It has those See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil monkies.

The last one is Write No Evil:

I love that. (But it is just so, so tempting to write evil.)

OMD

I have OMD: Obsessive Manual Disorder.

My current project is revamping my entire website and switching from FrontPage to Dreamweaver.

In order to do that, however, I must read massive amounts of manuals. (Hey, they're all different, okay?)

Roadtrip Part 3

We visited the bedroom where Elvis was born:
















At 4:35 a.m., and here's my proof:











Driving thru Geraldine, Alabama:














Husband: Look, a driving range!

Me:

Son:

Husband: Let's go hit a bucket of balls.

Me:

Son:



The driving range:















General Grant thought Port Gibson, Mississippi, was too beautiful to burn. I agree. A lovely town.















A wild and crazy - and definitely interesting - roadtrip.

Roadtrip Part 2

Food...glorious food! Isn't it amazing how certain foods take us back to our childhood? My recent roadtrip thru parts of the South was a real culinary walk down memory lane. (I grew up in the South.)

I love these. You can get them at every convenience store in the South. I can't find them where I live now.










We ate in lots of places like this one in Alabama:









The waitress tried to explain what a barbecue baked potato was. She said it had "them itty bitty green things" on it. Those were chives. It also had cheese and barbecue sauce.

I drank lots and lots and lots of sweet tea. I love it. My husband and son took one sip and asked for it to be diluted with unsweetened tea.

We ate at this place in White, Georgia:


























I did not have Lynn's Fried Cheesecake - but I did have a pimiento cheese sandwich on white bread that was heavenly and turned me into an 8-year-old again.

Alas, this place was closed:















The owner's name is really Reverend Colonel Poole. You can have your name painted on a pig for the Pig Hill of Fame:























I ate grits and biscuits but, alas, no hushpuppies or boiled peanuts. (I only saw a sign for boiled peanuts once. They are everywhere in Georgia and South Carolina.)

So, that's my culinary roadtrip. Hungry?

Coondogs

This is my Smoky Mountain Soul Sister, Kerry Madden. She has a coondog! Well, he's part coondog, but still....

Here's what she said about him:

"If he goes to the coondog cemetery, I will write Bad Coon! Slobber Coon! Thieving, cakestealing no good coon."

Roadtrip Part I

Back from my roadtrip thru the Deep South. I'm starting with my favorite part: The Coonhound Cemetery in Mynot, Alabama. For those unfamiliar with coonhounds, this is a redbone coonhound.














And this is a blue tick coonhound:











The coonhounds buried here were real working dogs (used to hunt, duh, raccoons). The cemetery was waaaaay back in the woods:































The very first dog to be buried there was Troop, in 1937:
















I loved the variety of gravesites:









































































Those ole dogs sure were loved!

8 Facts

I was tagged by Grace Lin, as follows:

>>Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.<<

1. I play video games every day. I am currently obsessed with Mario Brothers on my Nintendo DS. When my son was little, I was the neighborhood Donkey Kong champion.

2. I tape Judge Judy on my DVR every day and watch it every day.

3. Like Grace, I have the worst sense of direction ever. We were just on a roadtrip through the South and with a GPS and two maps, I still couldn't help my husband navigate. (He called me "the crapigator."

4. On more than one occasion, I have eaten an entire box of Goldfish crackers (Parmesan), with cold beer, of course.

5. I've tap danced all my life and still take lessons at a funky little studio in the basement of a church.

6. I thought I was the only middle-aged mom in the world who did DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) until I met Linda Sue Park and found out she does it, too! (Some day we hope to have a DDR competition.)

7. When I was pregnant with my son, I became addicted to General Foods International Instant Coffee. I have been drinking it every day since. My son is now twenty years old. I once thought General Foods was going to discontinue my flavor, so I went to every grocery store and stocked up on about a bajillion cans. (They are not discontinuing my flavor, so now I have half-a-bajillion cans.) I even took it to Europe with me. Nothing like sitting in a Paris cafe drinking Cafe Francais instant coffee! Yeah, I know.....

8. I have no sense of smell (and never have).

Hmmm, whom to tag? I can't think of 8, so here are a few:

Kim Marcus
Sarah Aronson
Tanya Lee Stone
Kimberley Griffiths Little
Stacy DeKeyser

Parents Choice Awards

This just in - Spring 2007 Parents Choice Awards - and, um, look who got a Recommended Award!

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Grace Lin. How fun!

BUT, I'm away on vacation and get about 2 seconds on a computer - so I'll do it later, I promise (if I can possibly think of 8 even slightly interesting things about myself).

Just to let you know how my trip is going, so far I've been to the Coondog Cemetery and the birthplace of Elvis. All the cultural highlights. Ha!