Sunday, July 5, 2009

Cleaning House

Those metaphoric words really can mean so much, can't they? Except it is literally what I've been doing this last week. Nothing like having company to make you look under your kitchen and bathroom sinks and think--I really need to clean this out. My visitors are my baby sister, Debra (who fifteen-some-odd years ago deserted the West Coast and became a Yankee--a Connecticut Yankee!) and her youngest daughter, Sam, who is 13. They are coming for a week's visit and we'll be doing the tourist thing. In Southern California that's the beach, shopping, Hollywood, shopping, In-N-Out Hamburgers, shopping, Balboa bars, shopping, In-N-Out again, shopping... Seriously, we hit In-N-Out on our way from the airport because my sister craves them so much.

No word on State Fair yet. My editor is still reading it, but she knows I'm having visitors for a week and can't start the rewrite until after the fifteenth, so that works great for both of us. I haven't even peeked at the manuscript since I've sent it off because I've found it's better to let it set for awhile and reread it with fresh eyes. I have sent my editor photos of State Fair quilt patterns (there are actually four different ones) and many photos I've taken at various county fairs, including the Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles. She'll take them to the cover conference to help spark ideas for the cover. It'll be interesting to see what the cover ends up looking like. I'll post it on the website as soon as they send it to me.

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July. Lucky for us Boo isn't fazed by fireworks probably because he hears them every night coming from Disneyland (we're 10 miles away, but on clear nights they sound like they are only a mile away).

Just wanted to say hi and wish you all a wonderful July! Earlene