Back to the Grind

Back to work on a Monday after ten days of vacation, how depressing. Anyway, tonight I'll be going to our Chicag0-North RWA meeting, which will cheer me up. I always have fun there and eat too much of the treats our members always bring.

Another good thing - This week I plan to get Killer Career into shape, so I can get my author copies by the 4th of July Festival. Since I'm working full time now, hopefully, I can carve out enough time to get it all together. All sorts of little decisions to make and things to figure out. Stay tuned for more developments on that end.

On the Cutting Room Floor Again

I was selling my books at the Flea Market Saturday in Arbor Vitae, Wisconsin, when a news reporter from Channel 7 in Wausau dropped by. He did interviews of vendors and shoppers. I managed to convince him to take some closeup shots of my books, but as luck would have it, they never made it to the broadcast Saturday night. The angle of the story was about bargains and finds in a tough economy, so apparently my books weren't considered in that category.

Years ago, the DH and I answered an area casting call for seconds in the Blues Brothers Movie. It was quite a warm day. There were also quite many of us. It was our job to walk back and forth along a street in Long Grove, Illinois. A beach scene followed at Sunny Hill Beach in Wauconda. I still remember how uncomfortable the heat was. I also remember the great lunch truck packed with wonderful meals for all of us. I think we got $75.00 a day for our duties, but am not positive since it was so long ago.

Anyway, we landed on the cutting room floor. No matter how many times we watched the movie, we couldn't catch glimpses of us amongst all the others in the crowd. In a book about the movie, we swear we could see the DH's back, but that's as close as we got to actually being in The Blues Brothers.

Still, I can't help hoping that maybe someday if I keep trying I'll make it big, maybe not on TV, but in some way with one of my books. That's the dreamer in me.

By the way, the weather was cool, but not as cold as last Saturday. Still, attendance was down, apparently since vacationers don't come in droves until after school lets out. I did sell more books than last time and met more great customers and vendors. All in all, a pleasant experience I'll repeat when I come back for vacation around Labor Day.

Heading home today.

Not Early Enough

I got up around 5:20 this morning, but it wasn't early enough. The DH gets up around 3:15 to go fishing on our pier. He hears the cry of the loons, and sees a bunch of other neat things, like the beaver getting out of the water and scrambling into the creek to go across the street to the pond.
Today, he saw a huge fox being chased by birds.

He has a video camera, but it's too bulky, so he doesn't use it to capture any of these wildlife moments. I think we should invest in a small camera with movie settings for him. I don't want him to use my camera, because, God forbid, somehow it lands in the water or gets wrecked.

Anyway, I'm getting ready for another Flea Market Day today at Arbor Vitae Fireman's Field. The forecast is cool, with rain moving in this afternoon, so I'm not sure how many browsers or buyers will stop by. Still, I do enjoy bonding with the other vendors. It's a whole different world seeing everything from their perspective. I'll let you know how things go.

A Detour Well Worth Taking

I went on a detour in more ways than one on Thursday. My friend, Jeanne, asked
me if I'd keep her company on a drive to Fifield to pick up a coyote pup, so I went along.

It was a beautiful June day and perfect for a ride in the country. Off we went on our mission to meet a lady at a gas station where the orphan pup, which was in a small crate, would change hands, then come back with us to the North Woods Wild Life Center.

Anyway, we ended up taking a detour which was not clearly marked, getting lost, going in a circle, and finally finding a truck driver at a stop light to get directions. A sign of the times - he had a printed satellite map showing the detrour roads. After receiving his directions, we made it to the gas station only fifteen minutes later than we'd first hoped to get there.

As soon as I saw the pup, I knew it was all worth the bother. He is a cutie.

Close Calls

I thought I had some close calls at Bingo Wednesday evening. For four games, I was one number off when someone else called Bingo.

Actually, they didn't turn out to be the closest call. That happened on the way home. I was singing along to "He thinks he'll keep her," and my friend, Jeanne, turned the radio up even higher so we could hear the song better.

Out of nowhere, a deer jumped right in front of the car. I gasped, I mean, really gasped!! It was right in front of us and we were headed right at it. By some miracle, Jeanne managed to swerve the car without upending it or going off the road, and the deer ran in back of us.

So, looking back at Bingo, those games were nothing compared to the close call on the way home. What about you? Have you experienced any close calls? Or maybe you've put a character in one of your books through a similar experience. Please share.

Not Missing Anything at Home

The DH just talked to his aunt today. It's been raining constantly since we left. Fortunately for us, we're enjoying peaceful weather here. It's cool for June, but that beats the heat we've often experienced in prior years. I remember a few when we suffered through 90 degree temperatures. When you don't have air conditioning and it doesn't cool off at night, it's the pits.

The DH caught a nice walleye this morning, so he's happy about that, but of course he'll be wanting to go for more as soon as he gets some rest. He's been getting up at ungodly hours, like 3 or 4 in the morning, since that's when the fish seem to want to bite.

Rascal and I enjoyed a nice long walk this morning, but not as early as the DH got up. Later I'll try Bingo and see how I do. At least at Bingo I don't have the peril of losing as much money as at the casino.

Mundania Press Acquires Hard Shell Word Factory

I just learned last evening in a group post that Mary Wolf, the publisher of my first two books, Two Wrongs and Girl of My Dreams, was selling Hard Shell Word Factory to Daniel J. Reitz, Sr. of Mundania Press.

Today, the acquisition was officially announced on various egroups online by the new owner. I and other Hard Shell Turtles are excited to have an owner who has the capabilities of carrying on the quality Hard Shell tradition.

Around the time I was first published in 2006, tragedy struck Mary Wolf's family when her son, Dirk, who was also a cover artist for Hard Shell, was murdered. On the heels of that, other misfortunes have dogged her, making it difficult for her to run Hard Shell in the manner she would have liked. As a result, the publishing schedule was put on hold.

I wish her all the best and also look forward to a new direction for the company under the reigns of Dan Reitz.

That said, my new release, Killer Career, is being published by Choice One Publishing Company very soon. I'm not sure yet if that's the direction my future novels will be published. It's good to know Hard Shell will again be a viable option for submissions.

Have any of you belonged to a publishing company that was sold, or worse, went under? Please share.

More Flea Market & Casino

I made it to the St. Germain Flea Market on Monday, but for some reason it turned pretty cold, which wasn't in the forecast. Knowing how it felt when I was a seller at the Arbor Vitae Flea Market last Saturday, I decided to go anyway. Not as many vendors were there as usual at St. Germain, but I did manage to pick up some goodies. It's a rare occasion when I can't find something to buy at one of those kind of places.

After dinner at my friend, Jeanne's, we headed to the casino, where we spent way too long. We were both ahead in the first hour or so. We started around seven and stayed until ten. We should have left at eight, but we were having such a good time, we stayed and lost. I didn't bring an exhorbitant amount of money with and I did not go to the ATM for more, so things could have been a lot worse. Still, we're taking a break from casino action until later in the week. I'm not sure what the plans are for today, but Wednesday we'll try Bingo again.

I also managed to make some headway on the back cover copy for Killer Career, so that's good.
Vacation is rolling along and I've heard the wind will be dying down and the sun appearing more in the next few days. We'll see about that.

North Woods Wild Life

On Sunday I got a tour of the NorthWoods WildLife Center from my friend, Jeanne, who volunteers there to feed the animals. The Center takes care of injured and orphaned wild animals and returns them to the wild when possible. Some end up being permanent residents when they can'd fend for themselves on their own, such as birds who lose wings or animals who lose an eye.

Here's one of the owls. I took lots more pictures, but it's way to difficult to upload them here while I'm on 2G.

Once I make it back to civilization with 3G
and DSL, I'll be able to show you more.

Afterwards, we headed over to the casino, where I actually ended up ahead by $80.00. The man next to me said he'd spent $600 on the same machine I was playing, but he wasn't as successful. I'm making sure not to overdo it, since money is tight. Still, I do enjoy playing slots and intend to go back again this week.

Today it's St. Germain and the flea market there where this time I'll be a customer. Fortunately, I'll have my casino winnings to spend.

At the Flea Market

My spot in the Pavilion at the Fireman's Flea Market in Arbor Vitae, WI, was quite cold, mainly because of constant wind gusts, but the comaraderie amongst the vendors was warm enough to make up for any discomfort I felt. I had tucked four magazines and a book into my tote bag to read in case of poor attendance, but was so entertained I never read them.

A slow, but steady stream of customers came through, but not many felt like sticking around too long when they felt the chill winds in the Pavilion. In the picture, I'm holding up the poster for my upcoming release, KILLER CAREER, which I've begun advertising.

On Monday, I'm hoping to get over to the St. Germain Flea Market, this time as a customer. One of my neighbor vendors will be selling again there and I'll stop by the say hello.

Then, next Saturday, I'm back again to Arbor Vitae again to sell more books at their Flea Market and have fun with the other vendors.

Fiinding Stuff

First Day of vacation for someone like me is filled with putting stuff away and finding stuff. The DH and I use walkie talkies when he goes out on the lake in the boat and I'm in the cottage. They were great for keeping track of each other.

Anyway, I couldn't find the charging cord, but after a long search found it in a different bag than the radios themselves.

That cord was only one of the many things I had to find and put where it belonged. I think I've got everything where it should be for the 10 days we're here, but can't tell for sure. I wish I were more organized, but it's not in my blood. I just do the best I can. So far, I'm lucky. I don't think I forgot anything I wanted to bring with.

What about you? Do you have trouble finding stuff or getting it all together when you go on vacation?

A Nice Man

I was going to blog about going on vacation today. Actually, I'm on the road again to Wisconsin this morning.

Anyway, I saw something on Thursday that warmed my heart. I saw some people selling raffle tickets for cars to benefit Children's Memorial Hospital. Nothing unusual about that. They do it every year.

What was unusual was one businessman stopped and shook one of the volunteers' hands and said something like, "Thanks for being out here."

Another few blocks later, the same businessman put some coins in one of the street person's cups and went on his way.

He probably had no idea he'd left an impression on me, but he did. All I could think was Wow, this is a nice man.

Have you encountered anyone who does something simple which made an impact on you? Maybe you can think of how to fit something like this in a book you're writing to show and not tell the goodness of a person. Or, maybe another author written something that made an impact. Please share.

Graduation Parties

Tis the Season - For Graduation Parties.

A niece
A cousin's son
A friend's grandson

That's the tally so far, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were more on the way. Going to one could be a good thing or bad, depending on how you look at it. I consider it a mixed blessing.

It's wonderful to be with friends and relatives, having a good time and eating great food. It's not so wonderful to eat too much, which I tend to do when the food is terrific. Also, we're a bit short of money this year, but we still want to give the graduates nice gifts.

What about you? Are you going to any graduation parties or maybe holding one?

Let's Play Cards

When was the last time you played cards? Come on over to Acme Authors Link for more about cards today.



As always, comments here, there or both are appreciated.

Rascal Meets Governor Quinn

For about 20 years, the DH and I have spent Memorial Day and the week after in Wisconsin. Due to a conflict in vacation plans at my job,this year we had to change our vacation week.

We were surprised to learn The Salute Run, a track event, had been going on in Arlington Heights for 6 years. We decided to check it out and brought Rascal along for the walk there. Before the races began, Pat Quinn, the Governor of Illinois, and Arlene Mulder, the Mayor of Arlington Heights, gave short speeches.

When the Governor was through speaking. The DH went up to get his picture taken with the Governor, along with Rascal. The picture's above.

Afterwards, the DH laughed. He said the Governor asked for the dog's name and said she was cute. He didn't ask for the DH's name.

We're used to that by now. Like I've mentioned before, when we walk Rascal people are always stopping us on the street and saying things like, "That's the Target dog," or "That's the Patton dog," or "That's the dog from Little Rascals."

Some even say, "That's the Youtube dog," since Rascal's Mom put up a number of videos there. (If you search for morganmandel, you'll find them, by the way)

It's obvious Rascal has clout, even with politicians.
Does your pet get more attention than you? Please share.

Memorial Day

The DH and I were in the Arlington Heights Memorial Day Parade today handing out flyers for the Frontier Days Festival over the 4th of July.

Here's a pic I took while we waited for the parade to begin.

Car Scare - This Caught My Eye

I was going to post about something different today, but a news article on Yahoo caught my eye. The Dad in the story suffers from hypoglycemia, which I have, but it's under control. I also refer to this illness in Killer Career, my upcoming romantic suspense.

This article reminded me of when I was young and one of my brothers got into the car and it started moving. Fortunately, Dad got in and applied the emergency brake before anything bad resulted.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090523/ap_on_re_us/us_boy_driver

Do you have any car scares to share?

Sneak Peak

Hi Gang,

Here's a sneak peak at my updated website and the cover art for my upcoming romantic suspense, Killer Career. You can check it all out at http://www.morganmandel.com/



I've changed the main page and some other pages. Still have more to update, but it's not as hopelessly behind as it was not long ago. Somehow I kind of forgot the website existed after I got caught up in my daily blog here, but it deserves to have its own life also.



Hope you like it.

They're Back!

I hadn't seen them in a while and wondered if they'd reappear. I kind of thought they would, since they usually do.

Sure enough, I spotted them on my way to the train station this morning. I don't like them very much, but I have to admit they're usually very industrious. I guess there's a lesson to be learned from them. They seem to usually have a system going and get things done.

Here they are, up above, shown on one of the sidewalks, going about their business. Can you tell what they are? Have you seen any lately? Do you have any stories about them to share?

People in Cages

This is the season for people in cages. Every day on the way home from work I see them.

They sit on iron chairs in front of iron tables and they're happy, despite the fact they're caged in. Maybe the reason for their great mood is they're outside in the fresh spring air and enjoying the good-looking food and drinks in front of them. Also, I guess they don't mind being in cages because they know they can get out whenever they want to - when they finish their meals and/or drinks, or conversations and pay their bills.
If they don't pay, I wonder if they have to stay inside until they do?

Have you seen these people in cages also? Or, maybe you've been one of them or would like to be. Or, do you hate outdoor eating and drinking? Please share.