Scarlet Letters

This has proven much more difficult to write than I anticipated, probably because this is the hardest decision I have ever had to make. Harder than the decision to leave Memphis and my career in the arts in order to pursue a life in journalism. Harder than the decision to divorce my first husband, the father of my child. And I'm not one to take a leap without considering all the options, so you'd best believe that I have discussed this with Jim, with my parents, with close friends, with mentors. Probably until they were tired of talking about it with me. I have dithered and stalled, because once I post this, it's final. It's real. I'm leaving the newspaper. With that decision ends 21 years in daily journalism. Wow, that was hard to type. And I haven't even done it yet. Please click here to check out my new site and all the details about this amazing new journey I'm about to take, and how you can be a part of it.

Oh, just pick a state, willya... I greet you from a lovely bed and breakfast in Charlestown, Indiana. It's a charming mansion with many rooms decorated in a comfortable, Victorian-inspired style, a billiards and music room downstairs and lovely gardens, at least what I could see when I arrived after dark. So far I approve. The only downside of the room: No desk, and I neglected to charge the laptop, so I can't work at the nifty writing-desk in the hall. Therefore I have the laptop balanced on my knees in the Victorian contour chair so I can write this blog. The things I do for you people. Today was supposed to be a leisurely drive to the Louisville, Ky. area to explore the area before the marketing symposium for writers at Karen's Book Barn , the store hosting me and many other authors this weekend. Of course, I got hit with about five errands to run "on my way out of town," no less than two minor crises, and got twenty minutes away from home before ...

So let's recap, friends and neighbors: This weekend: • I have a signing at Maeva's in Alton on Friday night - " Writers of the Riverbend ." • On Saturday, I work for Ye Olde Newspaper. • On Sunday, I am running a fundraiser at Pottery Hollow for the Relay for Life team. This requires baked goods, as treats were promised to the people coming to paint things. I might be able to get away with cookies and punch. • Meanwhile Boy goes through his Ordeal for the Order of the Arrow. Next weekend: • I am doing a signing in Louisville, Ky. I am leaving on Thursday so I can do some photography on Friday before the signing on Saturday. • But as soon as the signing is over Saturday, I have to book it back to Illinois. Because... • Sunday is the 175th anniversary of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church . I am responsible for the coffee hour baked goods. And coffee hour is, as we all know, the eighth sacrament of the Episcopal Church. • Therefore all baking must be done...

It was a lovely, warm weekend here in the Midwest, so naturally Donald-Smith-Gillentine Inc. spent it indoors. We had one of those lovely rare weekends where we had no obligations, but the far-less-rare status of no money. We spent all the funmoney this month on our Valentine's Day dinner (1808 Chophouse, and man, that was gooooood). So we tackled two long-delayed projects: my office and the Boy's room. Now, he's a teenage boy. I don't expect pin-straight neatness. The only young male I ever knew who could keep a room tidy was my friend Stephen, and we've all agreed he's a mutant. At one point in Boy's youth, I turned to a fellow choir member in frustration for advice. His children are brilliant, personable, super-achievers, poster children for the new millennium. ME: Tom, it's all agreed you raised the perfect kids. TOM: ... okay? ME: You did this! Successfully! So please, share the secret: How did you get them to clean their rooms? TOM: We did...

Hey look, I still have a blog! The Fall Deathmarch Tour ate me. I was going to blog about New Orleans, and Memphis, and Louisville, and Dupo, and all the other places I've traveled for the last six weeks. (One of those things is closer than the others.) About searching for non-spicy non-seafood on Bourbon Street, trying to find our way out of Louisville in the middle of a marathon, my first photography award, and getting censored by Facebook. Somehow none of that got written down... In the meantime, have these. JIM: Trying to read Emerson. I want to die. ME: Why? JIM: Boooooooorrrrriiiinnnnngggg! ME: You mean complex. Multifaceted. Challenging. JIM: Boooooooorrrrriiiinnnnngggg! ME: Stimulating. Formidable. Demanding. JIM: Boooooooorrrrriiiinnnnngggg! Long overstuffed windbaggery! ME: I'm not sure windbaggery is a word. JIM: It is now. ME: I'm pretty sure you're not just allowed to make up your own words, English major. JIM: Yes I can. CHARACTER 1: Yo...

Each year, I swear I'm not going to do this to myself anymore. I keep swearing.... No Dragoncon for me this year, and at the moment, I do not have any Atlanta stops planned. If there seems to be sufficient interest, I may plan a bungee stop in the spring tour, but in the meantime, I hope my Atlanta fans have an awesome Dragoncon! Buy lots of books! Sept. 9-11: Memphis, Tenn. on personal business, but am happy to meet with anyone for books or art! Deadline for ordering is Sept. 8. Sept. 17-21: New Orleans, La. for the Excellence in Journalism conference , at which I am honored to represent the St. Louis Pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists as president and delegate. A reminder to the STLSPJ crew: if you have any opinions you wish to express on the issues we will debate at EIJ, please contact me in advance. I'll be traveling via Memphis in case anyone wants to meet up. Sept. 25: Back home. Booked to moderate/host the St. Louis Society of Professional Jo...

We spent the last four days relaxing with my dad and stepmom at their house at the Lake of the Ozarks. It was a wonderful respite, and delightful to see the folks, whom we get to see far too little now that they're retired. (Well, sort of retired. Karen's still doing therapy, they wrote a book together, Dad's thinking about picking up one class a semester...) For everyone who said "Tell your folks I said hi," your good wishes were duly passed on. Dad took us out on the boat, where the menfolk caught a lot of snarled fishing line, and there were many bites.... from mosquitoes. Not so much the fish. At one point Dad declared a spot was "fished out," and I replied, "Don't you actually have to catch a fish for that to happen?" Hee. We went on a tour of the Missouri State Prison in Jefferson City, which was fascinating! Photographs are pending, and possibly a short story or two. I may write up a separate post on that experience later thi...

For the purposes of this, you must understand a few things about Boy. He does not have a debit card, so when he orders things he gives me money and I order it for him. His father lives in Memphis, so gifts he purchases for his father are often managed this way. And he hates tomatoes with a living passion. At Subway... BOY: I'd like a ham and cheese on monterey cheddar. ME: Please. BOY: Please. SERVER: *makes sandwich* And what would you like on it? BOY: Extra onions, lettuce, pickles - ME: Ew. BOY: Hush. ME: Ruination of a good sandwich. BOY: And what are you ordering? ME: Subway Club. Nunya. BOY: And mayonnaise, please. SERVER: Anything else? ME: Extra tomatoes. SERVER: *looks at Boy* BOY: She's kidding, no tomatoes. SERVER: *is giggling* BOY: You're not funny. ME: I'm hilarious. Later, I texted him to let him know his Father's Day present for his father was ordered. ME: Ordered and on its way. One Chicago Cubs wall pennant. BOY: Mom no yo...

Jim and I were alone on Father's Day, so we drove up the Great River Road and had wine at the Pere Marquette Lodge. Jimmy got sleepy and I did some shooting. We love Pere Marquette; the views are so spectacular they can't really be captured with my photographic skill (yet) and it's a giant no-cell zone, which was poorly timed since the phone died in the middle of chatting with my dad. This was my second experiment with manual focus. I switched back and forth between manual and autofocus in the prom shoot, but that was different; I was using a tripod with humans who mostly stood still. This was handheld on a floating dock or by the side of the river on unstable rock. Turns out there's a few kinks in the system. One of them: It's really hard to adjust manual focus when the sun is shining directly in your eyes. I tried sunglasses, but then I could barely see at all. Here's a few of them. I will have to decide which go up on the shop ; I can't afford to put ...

I have pretty much one inescapable talent: Choosing hobbies at which I suck. I love to hike. I am the world's slowest hiker, and was even before my health issues. I used to weight-train before the Knee Incident, but you'd better believe I'm not posting my lifts. We won't even get into my "dancing." I played the cello from second grade until midway through high school, and still have my cello (albeit in grave need of repair). I was a terrible cellist. I learned the basics of piano from my mother, a virtuoso classical pianist who has performed at Carnegie and Tanglewood. The apple fell very far from the tree. I like to do needlework, and color, and decorate cakes, and keep plants, and various crafty things that help keep Michaels in business. I suck at all of the above (and I'm so slow on needlework I still haven't gotten to Boy's Christmas stocking by age 17). I have the creative heart of an artist without the... what's the word... talen...

I have really got to stop doing this to myself. I am too old to run around the country like this. First, I must offer my regrets to the fine folks at River City Comic Expo in Little Rock. There will be many fine guests there this weekend, so please show up and visit with them! So that kicks me off at Dragoncon , where some postal shenanigans unfortunately delayed my official confirmation and thus my panel schedule is pretty light. At the moment, all I know about are panels on the Writers Track at 2:30 pm. Friday and Sunday, an Apocalypse Rising panel at 4 pm. Saturday, and my reading will be at 5:30 p.m. Sunday. More panels may be added in the future, and I will offer chocolate and a free limited-edition chapbook to attendees at the reading on Sunday. Naturally, a limited presence means less opportunity to sell books, especially in a zoo like Dragoncon among 65,000 of my closest friends. But I will be there, and I'm bringing the new book as well as some older titles and out...

Our awesome bungee trip to visit the folks this weekend came with an extra bonus. Well, besides retrieving the Spawn. It was a bungee trip because I had to work Sunday, so we booked it back in the wee hours of Sunday morning so I'd be back to start my shift. But at least we had 48 hours to hang out with my dad and stepmom at their awesome lake house. Friday was highlighted by parasailing over the Lake of the Ozarks. Boy and I had the most awesome time. It was an amazing experience, with a spectacular view and not at all scary or insecure - hell, the seats on the Sky Screamer at Six Flags sway more than that parasail harness did. Jim did not fly. Jim is a giant chicken-man who stayed on the ground sipping beer with my folks. He still owes me for the hot-air balloon ride that didn't happen the day after we got engaged, and now he owes me parasailing too. Bawk bawk bawk, husband-o-mine. Wahoo! The next day was a ride on their boat, which they still  haven't named,...