I know I promised but...

I want to thank everyone for the support and encouragement they've offered over the past several weeks.

I wanted to return to the blog in time to write a blog-chain post, but some pretty crazy things have been happening to my family in the past week or so. (There's a reason they call it practicing medicine. Unfortunately, my husband and I now know that reason.)

It's been an emotional rollercoaster, and I hope to God we're over the worst part.

Time will tell.

Thoughts and prayers are appreciated.

Hugs to you all!

Kat

wordfail

I've hereby declared a moratorium on the use of the word "fail."

Now, I'm not prohibiting anyone from saying they've failed a test or failed to take the dog for a walk.

I'm declaring the use of the word "fail" in any title -- movie, song, blog -- obsolete, old-fashioned, uncool and completely last year.

What does this mean?

It means no more agentfail, queryfail, bossfail, employeefail, childfail, Bushfail, Senatefail, dogfail or catfail.

Any use of this word will result in cynical expressions from your friends, rolling of the eyes from the general public and possible ostracism and excommunication from everyone else.

This moratorium goes into effect immediately and will continue until further notice.

Thank you for the interuption. Now, please, continue with your day.

A word from my sponsor

And now, a glimpse into my dementia.

Heather: So, you wrapped up "Long Road" last night, huh?

Kat: Yeah. I'm all done...for now.

Heather: Did you remember to put in the part about the....

Kat: Yeah.

Heather: And what about that part where Dave...

Kat: Yeah.

Heather: Tell me you remembered to put in what I thought about my brother's...

Kat: Heather. I got it. Quit worrying.

Heather: Geez, Kat. Calm down. I just wanted to make sure you got it all down and got it right.

Kat: I'm a professional. I know what I'm doing.

Heather: Ha! Professional. You're a professional reporter. That's a lot different than writing someone's life story.

Kat: Oh, yeah? How so, Rock Star?

Heather: Hey...watch it. You know how I feel about that label.

Kat: (Raises eyebrow. Crosses arms. Taps foot.)

Heather: Stop looking at me like that. You knew what I meant. You've said it before; writing a news story is different because you give out all of the info up front, and writing fiction you have to drizzle a little here and there. I just hope you did it right this time.

Kat: I think you better go back to Dr. Saxton and see if he can do something about your passive-aggressive behavior.

Heather: (Smiles.) You should be glad it's passive.

Kat: Is that a threat?

Heather: (Still smiling.) Take it for what it is, Kat. (Sighs.) Now what about the soundtrack? How's that coming?

Kat: I thought you were the musician.

Heather: Girl, I'm fictional. If you leave the singing up to me, that soundtrack will be nothing but track after track of Simon and Garfunkel.

Kat: Huh?

Heather: You know, "The Sound of Silence?"

Kat: Oh, thanks. Now I'll have that stuck in my head all day.

Heather: Don't mention it. Now, about the soundtrack...

Kat: I'm workin' on it. I'm workin' on it. It would be nice if I could find a drummer that wasn't fictional.

Heather: Heh heh. Hey, Kat...

Kat: What?

Heather: What do you call a drummer without a girlfriend?

Kat: I've heard this one before. You call him homeless. I thought that might hit a little too close to home for you. I mean, considering...

Heather: Not really. I'm over that. Now about the soundtrack...

Kat: Dana and I are working on it. We're waiting for drum tracks on "Long Road Home" and we're working on the title track. While I'm waiting for my crit group's response, I'll have time to work on it some more, too.

Heather: Hmm. Crit group, huh? Are you nervous? Who's reading it? Anyone I should know about?

Kat: A few different people, but if someone else wanted to take a gander I wouldn't mind.

Heather: Oh, OK. (laughs again) Hey, Kat, how do you get a drummer off your front porch?

Kat: I don't know. How?

Heather: Pay him for the pizza. (laughs)

Kat: Oh, Heather. That's terrible. And Nick's Italian, too. That's really bad.

Heather: Aw, lighten up. He thought it was hilarious.

Taking over me

Kat's mind is a mess today.


So, she asked me to take over her blog. Well, she didn't really ask. I just decided to take over because she's too busy dreaming about vacation, white Christmases and having what her friend, JC, calls a write-fest for the next five days.


That means she'll be paying attention to me -- Heather, the MC in her novel.


That's my picture on the left. It's pretty old, taken before all that stuff happened (circa 1980). If you read the novel, you know what stuff I'm talking about.


I'm feeling much better now. Just in case you're wondering.


Since Kat gets such a kick out of writing about the sordid details of my life, I figured I would write about her.


I started bugging Kat a long time ago. She might have been in sixth grade. Lord, what a geek she was in junior high. I have pictures; someday, when she's famous (yeah, right Kat, in your dreams) I'll blackmail her with them.


I started telling her my story back then already, but it took forever for her to sit down and listen to what I said. She'd write stuff down, but she didn't get the story straight until she let me tell it in first person. (Duh, I've been sayin' it for awhile, Kat.)


So, anyway, I started bugging her to tell my story because her family reminded me a lot of my husband's. Her parents are really cool, and she's got these sisters that are awesome and laugh ALL the time when they're together. It's such a night-and-day difference from the way I grew up, I was immediately drawn to it.


Not only that, but Kat has an interesting sense of humor and has dealt with some of the major issues that made my story interesting. Well, she hasn't dealt with them, but she has helped her husband struggle through them the way I wish my husband would have been able to help me.


Kat's also an okay singer and songwriter (but not nearly as good as me and Dave Vacanti). I mean, she hasn't put any of her bands on the Billboard Charts (like I did), and she's too old to make it past Simon Cowell on American Idol, but she holds her own.


Did she ever tell you about the time she met Def Leppard? Funny story. She was so smitten by their bass player she couldn't even talk!


Oh, I think I see her coming this way. I have to log off before she catches what I've done.


Later...