jane thompson

Airline travel is not my favorite mode of transport. However, there are places I have to go and places I want to see so onto the plane I go. Today I flew and as we took off I distracted myself by reading but then I thought that there is something going on around me that I do not normally see. I put my book down and looked out the window and it was interesting how much more scared I was seeing the tarmac recede. And then we banked so sharply my seat belt did some work keeping me from slinding into the seat next to me. While flying, I like my seat belt to act as a precautionary measure that is never, ever needed. Ditto in a car. Same with health insurance, the tampon I carry in my purse and Gas-X. I have these things but I do not want to have to use them.

We flew over the big empty brown that separates Phoenix from Los Angeles. At one point there were black jagged upcroppings dusted with snow and winding water that looked bluer than it should considering how muted everything around it was. The sun shone the whole time and in the distance white clouds built up but never came any closer. It is a privledge  and a joy to see the earth from high above.

It still scares the ever living hell out of me just thinking about it but I am glad I decided to have a look around. When I close my eyes I can still see the snow on those black crags under that low winter sun.

Merry Christmas

Actually, I am eating most of the cookies but whatever. I got a Kitchenaid mixer for an early Christmas present so I am now an unstoppable cookie making machine. This past Monday I went to my bookclub meeting (women of a certain age are required to join a bookclub. A friend of mine has been successfully dodging bookclub membership for twenty years but they will get her eventually. No one gets out of this life without reading at least one Barbara Kingsolver novel) and we had a cookie exchange. Initially, I felt I hadn’t brought enough cookies but then I realized that I had brought adult cookies and no one’s kids would want them so I was good. I made ginger cookies (in my cookie goddess mixer) and let me tell you, this recipe is not messing around. Small children shrink form them and dogs generally leave them alone. Delicious.

I got the recipe from a cookbook I got out of the library and although I love the cookies I think I am done with new recipes for the coming year. My goal is to try all the recipes I already have. I hope it will be indicative of what I plan to do with other aspects of my life, which is to do and use what I already have. This is leading me to a shopping frenzy that will probably last up until the last day of the year but that is okay. The world is on sale this time of year. I have also decided that I never want to wear, let alone go shopping for, another pair of shorts for the rest of my life. I have no idea what I will wear come summer but that will be a problem for my future self and I’m sure she’ll think of something.

Well, I am off to paint my fingernails. Since junior high I have been trying to figure out how to keep polish on my fingernails for longer than five hours. The friend of mine that has been dodging bookclubs gave me a tip today. If it works I will share it with you. If it doesn’t I will never mention it again. The new year will be all about success!This will be the opposite of that hilarious fail blog I hate to admit I have been chuckling over for the past year.

Okay, to sum up- Planning to use what I have before going to get more, no more shorts for the rest of my natural life and focus on success rather than failure.

I’ll need another cookie before I get started on this.

For reasons only iTunes knows, Glenn Campbell is belting out Rhinestone Cowboy in my kitchen. If you have never heard this song, please allow me explain. It doesn’t suck so much as it’s not very good, sort of like crackers without cheese. Anyway, that isn’t what I came here to tell you about. Yesterday, I made camping reservations for the end of June and I can’t wait. Now, when I say camping I do not mean camping. It’s more like sleeping in a public park next to the ocean. And I love it. I bring waaaaaaay too much stuff, my tent is the size of a doctor’s office waiting room and one time we had a pizza delivered to our campsite. Can you say campground superstars? I can.

Some people don’t like making plans so far in advance but I don’t mind. This time of year, I enjoy thinking about summer. Stretched out on a soft towel in the sand, nothing in my mind but the sound of the waves rustling around, nothing in my view but a golden stretch of sand followed by a wide expanse of sun sparkled sea…heaven! Don’t get me wrong, I love the holiday season but sometimes I need a break. Since it’s freezing cold at the beach, what could be better than reading a sexy little story set under a warm summer sun? That’s why I’m so pleased that Red Sage released my second short story, And Charlie Makes Three, on December 1st. There’s no better time of year to dream about summer than December. Sun, sand and, well, it is Red Sage so go on and add in whatever word you’d like. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Naughty.

Okay, I should give you some useful information here. The story is only available as an ebook. It is part of the Three Kinds of Wicked series. Although you don’t have to read the other stories to understand what is going on in mine, you wouldn’t be wasting your time or money. Those Red Sage ladies sure know what they’re doing. The excerpts are enough to make a girl feel a little flushed. Oh, I should put an excerpt in here. I’ll also provide a link to the Red Sage website.

I think that about covers it. I’ll be back next Wednesday with more. According to people who write successful blogs, I should post regularly. I am tempted to leave in how I mangled the spelling of the word regularly, but since the point of this blog is to convince people that I am a good writer I probably shouldn’t. Anyway, dream of summer and so will I and next Wednesday we’ll talk about…well, if anyone reads this and wants to leave a suggestion that would be really helpful.

P.S. regururllary