Monday, October 17, 2011

RECALCULATING


Life is full of wrong turns.

A friend of mind said she’d be so lost if she were driving. Truth is so would I without a GPS. Then again, I manage to get lost even with Chatty Cathy hollering at me to turn left, turn right, and giving me fair warning ahead.

That’s not surprising when I often become disoriented in a mall. Many is the time I come out of a side store and think I’m heading toward the end cap and wind up at the food court instead. I grab a doughnut and coffee, justified by the additional steps I’ll have to take to walk back to where I wanted to go in the first place, and start the journey over.

Back in the days when I first started driving, we used road maps. When I wanted to take a trip, I pulled out my Atlas, wrote down the directions and headed out. Problem is, I don’t know North, South, East or West when I’m on the road. I suppose I should have installed a huge compass on the dashboard. I’d read the road map only to realize, I read it upside down and ended up ten miles north instead of ten miles south.
Just like Chatty Cathy recalculates and eventually turns me around, I always managed to get to my final destination…eventually. Sometimes I found little treasures I would not have found if I hadn’t become directionally challenged.

Where’s the fun in always knowing where you want to go?


Sometimes I take a purposeful, spur-of-the-moment, side trip…not knowing where I’m going or where I’ll end up—and with no GPS or road map. Just trying to remember what street I turn onto when and retracing my steps. Obviously, I’ve always managed to find my way back…unlike Charlie on the MTA, I did return.
On one of those unplanned excursions, I ended up at a flea market barn…huge one…and I bought a picture. I still have it and display it prominently—a landscape of a turn of the century town…much like I imagine any small town in America would have looked like on the eve of the automobile. I like to put myself into the town and imagine what my life might have been like if I’d lived then.


Sometimes a wrong turn or an impromptu adventure can bring a taste of fond memories.
Have you ever taken a wrong turn and wound up in Adventureland? I’d love to hear about it.  

Monday, October 3, 2011





It is my pleasure to announce the release of Hello Hollywood by Janice Hanna Thompson. Janice's books often take the reader inside the zany. Attached is a blurb from her back cover. 




When it comes to love, one thing's for sure--it doesn't follow a script!
Athena Pappas is the head writer on Stars Collide, one of the most popular sitcoms in television history. But when Vegas comedian Stephen Cosse is brought in to beef up the show's suddenly sagging ratings, she starts to worry about her job. Sparks fly as the competition--and attraction--between the two writers heats up. Athena has never had a problem writing the romances of her characters. So why is her own love life so hard to script?

With humor and a Hollywood-insider viewpoint, Hello, Hollywood! delivers lots of laughs as Athena and Stephen discover that not being in control of the plot of their lives might just be the best thing that ever happened to them.

"Romance, drama, fun--Hello, Hollywood! has it all."--Jenny B. Jones, award-winning author of Save the Date and A Charmed Life series

"Thoroughly delightful! A blend of contemporary life and romance with nostalgic snapshots of Hollywood's golden age. Thompson writes with warmth and humor, creating a world we can all escape to for a little while."--Rachel Hauck, bestselling and award-winning author of Dining with Joy


Thanks, everyone!

Janice Hanna Thompson
"Love, Laughter and Happily Ever Afters!"


Janice Thompson is a seasoned romance author and former screenwriter. An expert at pulling the humor from the situations we get ourselves into, Thompson affords an inside look at TV land, drawing on her experiences as a screenwriter. She is the author of the Weddings by Bella series and Stars Collide. She lives in Texas.