Location: Albany, California

The husband and I decided it was time to move back to California. After partying up the East Coast for a year, we decided that maybe three thousand miles was a little too far away from home. We missed our families. We missed our friends.

We will never regret the time we spent away because it made our Westward homecoming all the sweeter.

And now I will get uber nostalgic and quote Amelia Earhart, "The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one's appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship."

Couldn't say it better myself.

Sean and I are now residing in the East Bay.

Location: Alpine, NJ

I am struck by how much life has changed in one year. Last summer, Sean and I were living in a studio apartment over a garage in Virginia. This year we're living in New Jersey.

The picture at left was taken on the Fourth of July when Sean and I decided to climb the local water tower. It was thrilling up there. WHen it got dark we had a 360 degree firework display. We watched the Macy's fireworks and the fireworks in New Jersey, and all the way up to the Tappan Zee Bridge. It was amazing. Definitely a Top 10 for me.

I've started working on my novel again, after taking a couple months off to let it simmer. When I re-read it I was suprised to find out that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Hopefully this next draft will go quickly and I'll be able to get it out to people.

In the mean time, enjoy your summer, because I'm enjoying mine.

Location: West Nyak, NY

So I'm sitting in the break room having a snack when one of my new co-workers rolls in with a cart piled with  New Release Science Fiction and Fantasy paperbacks.

Apparently, genre books only sit on the shelves for two or three months before the books  are pulled (all except for one or two that are archived in the regular paperback section) and sent back to the publisher. Then the publisher sends a new case of books to fill the empty New Release section.

Maybe I'm just new to the industry, but two months seems like an incredibly short time to sell a case of World of Warcraft: Rise of the Lich King. I would have thought it would take a year to sell through a case.

But when I asked the manager, "Do they sell?"

"Oh yes," she said. "Two months will sell almost all of them. And the Romances almost never stay on the shelves long enough for us to send them back to the publisher."

I was astonished. I had no idea business was so good for Sci/Fi Fantasy and Romance authors.

location: Alpine, New Jersey

Hey everybody, my first fiction story, 'Road Kill', was published on Every Day Fiction. Check it out!

I'd like to welcome new members to our family. Sean and I just got two kittens.

Welcome Dr. Jones and Jane Austin.