Onward and Upward

I reread some of my recent blogs tonight and decided that I sound down, depressed, all those negative things. Wrong impression! The cat bite got me on the wrong track, but it's not the only thing going on. There's lots of good. In fact, the time between now and New Year's looks so busy that I feel like my motor will run overtime for two months or more. This weekend we do a signing in Granbury for the collaborative novel--have I mentioned that? If not, it's a whole different story. But I will stay, go on to Tolar and spend the night with brother John and his wife Cindy, his daughter Jenn and her husband Carlton. A nice family get-together. Then Sunday I'll come home with a good friend from Granbury and we'll have dinner and a visit. All good stuff.
And then next Wednesday all the authors of the collaborative novel will be onstage at Fort Worth's prestigious Bass Hall. We'll go on in groups of two, three or four, and I'm in the first group with good friend Jim Lee. I told him if I could walk out holding his hand, I'd be fine, but Jeff Guinn who emcees these evenings said no, I had to come out by myself. We'll see. Jeff doesn't understand how the antibiotics destroyed my fragile sense of balance. But once out there, I expect to have fun. And then two days later I'm off to Austin for the Texas Book Festival and, more importantly, to celebrate the arrival of Ford Wright Winston Hudgeons, Meg and Brandon's second little boy. He's scheduled to arrive Oct. 25--wonderful when you can schedule ahead. Meg said, "Mom, I'm so glad we can do this at your convenienece." Was there a touch of sarcasm there? Not my Megan. Never. I'll stay a week with them.
Who said I was retired and bored? Yes, I'm working on the novel, and I am convinced that it percolates on the back burner when you're not actively working on it. But I'll take a computer to Austin.
And today I got to go to Bed Bath & Beyond with Jordan and Jacob. Pushing a baby in a shopping cart is a great way to visit with him. Every time we stopped for his mom to browse (I'm a rotten browser--I got for what I want and get out of there), I'd talk to him, poke him on the nose or cheeks, and finally got some smiles from him. Besides, he was hearing my voice--and at 4 months, that's important.
This is me sounding more upbeat.
Oh, yes, the collaborative novel. TCU Press published it, 13 authors contributed (well it has twelve chapters but one contributor enlisted a buddy), and I edited--as best I could. It's a traditional western, about a runaway slave in the 1860s, just before the Civil War ended. Title? Noah's Ride. Noah eventually makes it to Fort Concho, Texas, and joins the army but boy, oh, boy, did we go through trauma getting him there. The good news? It's gotten good reviews, including one that called it the best novel by a Texas author in 2006 even while saying that a novel with 13 authors ought to be the worst novel of the year. Others have called it "rollicking good fun." And best of all for TCU Press, sales have soared beyond what we ordinarily see with new books. At various times, various contributors have been all over the state promoting it. It's been fun.
Yeah, life is more good than the other way.