I have such delightful friends! 

There's a group of us who went to middle & high school together & they've been listening to me talk about writing for... let's guess no more than 3 decades? So I'm sure in their eyes the publication of ROCKET MAN has been a really long time coming! 

Anyway, we try to get together monthly, and today was brunch. One friend has created a tradition for us of passing around this superb Milestone Trophy. It reads:

SHAMROCK HILTON
CHRISTMAS DANCE
CONTEST
1957
1ST.

And today, in recognition of the milestone of my debut publication, it was awarded to me! 

Obviously, I've got it sitting proudly on top of the roll top desk in my study, where it shines on me as I sit to write. 

It's particularly apt, as I'm currently finishing up READY TO ROLL, which is the novella featuring Janice and Miguel from ROCKET MAN. Why is a dance trophy particularly apt for that novella, you ask? Well, you'll just have to wait slightly less than a month, then you'll find out. 

(Is it unfriendly of me to hope none of my friends have milestones soon, so I get to keep it a while?) (Is it really really unfriendly of me to hope that, considering one of them is planning her wedding?) (...it's okay. I know the answer.)

I've been experimenting with using speech recognition technology for my writing. 

Theoretically, it's great that I can move around declaiming all of my beautiful words, instead of being tied to the keyboard. In reality, the software does not yet know my voice perfectly, especially character names (Janice is almost always Genesis.) And I'm having to learn to speak the sentences exactly as I want them written. though normally I am quite the 'go back and edit as I type' kind of person. And have you tried excising all of the 'um's from your speech? It's not easy! 

Still, it's good for taking notes, and brainstorming, and also for being very silly.

Today my son played piano while I had the microphone on. This is the transcription of the song he played:

Or or or or or or her her her her her her her mom COM or call him 000 or or or or or or or add her her her her her her her her her her A call around I don’t know how how how how how how how how far as… Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha or ha ha ha ha ha ha hello


Is that dynamic, or what?