I Miss The Seventies

To go along with my poll, I'll let you know about my favorite decade. It's a tough decision because I love my life right now and wouldn't change a thing. But the decade I'm going to choose was before my daughter was born and before I met my wonderful husband.

With that said, the seventies were hard to beat. Hands down, that was the decade with the best music. No other decade has even come close. We also had the coolest muscle cars in the seventies--and who could forget the vans with the beds in the back. My boyfriend had one of those and it drove my father nuts. I was a good girl, though. Truly.

In the seventies, it was cool to tan, and boy, did I love having a dark tan. We didn't hear about aging our skin or the sun's causing skin cancer. We just lathered ourselves with slippery baby oil and had at it. For that reason, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves every time we were outside.

The hemlines were short, and more than once, my dad said, "Young lady, you are not leaving the house in that!" My uniform at the movie theater was equally short, as was my cheerleading skirt. Even the guys wore short shorts.

My favorite bands, Doobie Borthers and the Eagles, released amazing albums that decade and Elvis was still around. (I love Elvis, remember?) Many of us went to concerts, hung out at friends' homes, or were highly entertained by simply driving up and down Kearney Street.

Malls were safe and we never heard about pedophiles. We happily went trick or treating and sold Girl Scout cookies to complete strangers. We somehow made it through life without cell phones and computers. And we were thin because we were active. We ate home-cooked meals with our families and actually had face-to-face conversations.

Ah, those were the days. I loved--and miss--the seventies. What was your favorite decade and why?

Book Signings Are Fun

While I may not have had a maze of long lines (or people camping out the night before) like fans did for Sarah Palin and Dog the Bounty Hunter—both of whom were at our local Borders recently—I did have a strong, loyal showing for my first-ever book signing. Forty friends, colleagues and family members stopped by Borders on April 10 to receive an autographed copy of IT ALL CHANGED IN AN INSTANT, More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure. My sweet husband bought a special engraved pen for the occasion, which unfortunately (or fortunately) ran out of ink in one hour. Thirty books sold in two hours. I was touched and humbled by the support from so many. Kathy and Sharon, two Ozarks Romance Author friends, adorned my table with balloons and cookies. Shirley, president of Sleuths' Ink, took tons of pictures. Another writer friend, Jill, served as an I-reporter and put updates on Facebook. My parents gave me a beautiful bouquet of colorful daisies. Many attended--family members, writer friends, co-workers, as well as classmates from high school and even one from second grade! I felt so loved and humbled. I created a “Movies & Memoirs” gift basket and had a drawing for the basket (my marketing ploy to get a mailing list for future books!) The basket contained movie tickets, four popcorn containers, large candy bars, microwaveable popcorn, bookmarks, six-word memoir postcards, and naturally, the book. Opfer Communications graciously loaned a flat screen television for the event and even hauled it in and out of Borders. One of their directors downloaded the Smith feed/loop thingy (see why I needed technical assistance?) onto a disk. Several chairs were set up in front of the TV so onlookers could see excerpts from the book. Denise and Gary from Borders were extremely helpful and agreeable (even during the days prior to the signing when I was a bit anal). I know. Hard to believe. I gave away chocolate candy bars, six-word memoir buttons, post cards, and magnetic bookmarks featuring my memoir that appears on page one: “Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nothing published. Yet.” It’s interesting how everyone’s perception changes once you’re published. Seriously, it all changed in an instant.

Writers Wear Many Hats

Writers wear many hats. Literally. I belong to three writers' groups and every time I attend a meeting, I can count on the fact that several writers will be wearing a hat--all kinds of hats--berets, softball caps, knitted caps, cowboy hats, floppy sun hats, you name it. What is it about writers and hats? Don't get me wrong. I love hats. Always have, so I wear them, too. I'm just curious to know why so many writers adorn them. Is it because we're so creative we have to keep all our great ideas tucked firmly into our brain? Maybe it's because we like to show the world we're unique. Possibly it's due to the fact that we're just so darn artsy and adorable. Could it be that we're sending a message that we're non-establishment, so to speak? (Although, I'm a corporate person, too. Yawn.) Of course, writers also wear many hats in the other sense of the word--we write anytime we can--before, during and after work. We squeeze in writing between taking care of families, household chores, and tending the lawn. After wasting too much time on our social networking addictions, we still find time to write. As we're (hopefully) exercising, we're still thinking about that next story. Have you noticed that writers wear hats? What's your favorite type of hat?