So the Frampies are at the Jersey Shore, which means plenty of sun, sand, et al; the ‘et al’ could mean eating twin lobsters, or napping on the shore, or reading without guilt.

Yay!

‘Et al’ could also mean adjusting one’s conversation to include the MIL’s constant hovering concern, and all sorts of guarded fun. But whatev.

Meanwhile, I’ve been allowing my subconscious to work on the Demon Story (it has a dopey, deliberately obscure name in my head, but I’m not sharing it here), and have come up with some fun plot developments. I can’t wait to get back into it, after finishing the Regency-set historical novella I promised the Materialistic Buddhist I’d write (for my own benefit, mind you, since she is a Buddhist and all).

I’ve also exercised every day, including running and biking, so I don’t feel as logey and sluggish as I sometimes do when chowing on sticky buns and cream-filled doughnuts.

So yay.

Will likely post tomorrow to alert about a Riskies post, and then will see all back in Brooklyn.

Just call me the Flitterer. Because I am on hiatus again here for a bit, then–come September 8–you’ll be sick of me.

Meanwhile, hie on over to the Riskies and see the Beach Fun.

Oh my goodness, but it’s been a long time. I hadn’t intended not to update here, but the Son and I were in Minnesota for our annual two-week sojourn, and life was pretty dull:

I’d get up and get the boys off to sailing school (my son and his cousin, who loves Nutella like I love Richard Armitage).

Then I’d do freelance work.

Then a nap.

Then some writing and puttering.

Then boys would come home.

Reading, dinner, etc.

Not many hijinks.

I did get a lot of writing done, which was awesome, and realized, not so awesome, that I am in serious sleep debt if I can nap and sleep as much as I did in the past two weeks. Also, I am as big as I’ve been in awhile, but I’ve also been running, which is good. And actually fun!

Anyway. Lots of catching up today, and hopefully more Brooklyn-style hijinks to ensue later this week.

Head over to the Riskies and view my voracious reading plan for my next jaunt.

And, just for fun:

Well, that charitable streak didn’t last long, did it? Now I am back to being Ranty McRantypants.

So here goes:

Last night, the Framptons went to an outdoors park here in Brooklyn. We brought picnic food, a blanket and a fervent desire to watch Jaws on an outdoor screen.

No, my complaints are nothing to do with how the film was presented–sure, it was hard to see the darker parts, hard to hear sometimes, but it was all part of the experience. That part was cool.

My issue is with the kids who were playing directly behind us. They certainly had energy, I’ll say that much. They were running around and SHRIEKING, at one point all crowing (!) ‘cock-a-doodle-doo!’ while their asshat parents sat in back of them and did nothing. Hello, at what point is it okay to let your kids make a ridiculous amount of noise while at least a hundred other people are trying to watch a movie? These adults would likely be the first ones to complain if my kid started gabbing in the movie theater. AND THEY WOULD BE RIGHT TO COMPLAIN.

My son didn’t let me go talk to the kids to ask them to quiet down, so I seethed for awhile until I was able to block it out.

I hate those parents. The kids I’m okay with–they were just being kids. But the parents were disrespectful and rude.

But. Really.

After vehemently refusing to go to Disney while in Orlando last week, I–went to Disney. It wasn’t awful! I’d thought I’d have a miserable time, but I promised my Disney partner, Liz Maverick, that I wouldn’t ruin her visit with my anti-Mickey venom (and you shoulda seen the older lady’s face at the Disney hotel when I said, in a hushed mutter, that I hated Mickey).

I also promised Liz I would let her take goofy (not Goofy) pictures of me. To wit:

The first day back, filled with laundry and freelance. But meanwhile–here is a picture of me and my RWA roommate, Carolyn Jewel, at the RITA Awards (the Oscars of romance writing; Carolyn was nominated TWICE!):

So I am at the airport, waiting for the flight that will connect to another flight that will take me home to Brooklyn, and I am wiped out. But in a good way. It was an amazing conference, I am all thrilled again about writing, and what my agent (!) is working on with me, and I got to see some great friends, not to mention some lovely clothes (and some egregious items, but that will wait until I am in a less charitable mood).

More later, and I did take pictures, but those will be later, too.

Yay!

So the Son is off having Adventures, leaving his sad, lonely parents back in Brooklyn. Which means that his sad, lonely parents don’t have the care and responsibility for the Son.

Party time!

We’ve been having Date Night every night since he left, except for one night when we saw our respective friends. We’ve gone to the same chi-chi tequila bar TWICE, had wine and cheese while watching Mad Men, went on a bike ride TOGETHER, went to the movies (!) and saw Inception, slept late, took naps and went shopping.

A good, if exhausting, time has been had by us.

And tomorrow I head to Florida for the Romance Writers Of America’s annual conference, and will be presenting a workshop with Liz Maverick on social networking. See? Like this here? I am networking, socially.

Will post when I can, but my life hasn’t been worth me saying anything about anyway, so likely will not be posting a lot.

Over there talking about plain Jane heroines and the gorgeous men who love them.