One thing is for sure:  I’m not wasting my time.  We’ve had a wonderful two week family reunion with all our children, grandchildren, and one remaining grandparent.  Family portraits will be forthcoming.  In the last week we’ve attended a temple wedding and a baby blessing.  Pieces of Paris arrived!  Crazy Ladies has been languishing in neglect after I lopped 100 pages off the beginning.  To vote on your choice for the best 1st chapter (I need your help!) go to my website at http://ggvandagriff.com. 

Pieces has several launches planned:

19 Sept Authorpallooza evening at Orem Barnes &  Noble

Celebrate Sisterhood (the weekend before conference–place to be announced)

Ladies’ Night (Saturday Night of Conference–place to be announced)

Official Launch with doorprizes and giveaways Oct 9th at Orem Barnes & Noble

We have a stand up of Annakin Skywalker in our living room, a tent in the basement, and a little four year old running around singing the various good guy/bad guy themes from Star Wars.  Also, we have an adorable 3 month old smiling and even laughing, as well as showing his big brother he is tough as he can take mauling without alarm.

I am trying to: Finish 5th draft of Crazy Ladies

                   Begin marketing Pieces of Paris

                   Relaunching The Last Waltz

                   Trying not to lose my mind.

Right now I am so worn out from writing non-stop that I have vowed not to take my ms.  Of course, I WILL have my netbook, and it WILL be on there, so if I get antsy on our "at sea" days on our cruise, I will be able to indulge my writer’s OCD.

This is a research cruise for my second Crazy Ladies book, to be set on a cruise to the Greek Isles and Italy.  At the end, I get to visit my beloved Florence and our friends there from last October.

David is doing his unbelievable gadget thing.  His latest is a clock by his bed that projects the time onto the ceiling in red light.  So when he wakes, he doesn’t have to turn his head to see the time.  I ask you!

The thing he’s most excited about is the light he gets to turn on in our bedroom (on a timer, of course) that mimics the light from a television.  He’s gone out to wash the car, which is suspicious.  I suspect him of combing the Home Depot for more gadgets.

I wonder if they have gadget stores on the Greek Isles?

First and greatest thanks are always to my Savior, Jesus Christ, for the enabling power of his atonement which led to my healing and also enabled me to learn to write again.  I had that part of my brain zapped by multiple ECT’s, and it is truly miraculous that it has regenerated to the point that I can write again.  Writing is so complex and involves so many different parts of the brain.  It also require elasticity of thought, which we naturally lose as we age if we don’t "exercise our brains."  It is absolutely a miracle that when writing I possess this elasticity, but when I’m doing normal things I’m a complete ditz.

Secondly, I must thank my wonderful husband.  There is not a virtue he does not possess and he has won a crown ten feet high for staying and not running from a relationship that entailed so much angst and trial for the twenty-five years of my illness.  Since I have been well, he has encouraged my writing in every way possible–even to the extent of taking a trip to Florence with me (I hired him as a photographer, otherwise of course I would have left him at home)  Seriously, he has read every word I’ve written and added his own perspective–often resulting in the very best of my writing.  A gifted writer himself, he has taken time from his own career to do this, as well as designing all my websites.  The one at http://last-waltz.com is a work of art.  Everyone simply must read his book I Need Thee Every Hour: Applying the Atonement in Our Daily Lives.  It is a life-changer.  Its stories tell of the miracles that have occurred in our lives and those of others because of this mighty sacrifice of our Lord and Savior.

Thirdly, I really need to thank my father, Robert V. Gibson, who is undoubtedly fuming in the Spirit World because I forgot to mention him in my speech.  Not only did he fund my Stanford Education which included my six months in Austria, he always pushed me when it came to writing Waltz.  I gave him sections of it for his birthday and Christmas.  We plotted together, and I’m sure that he considers it just as much his book as mine.  I am sad that he did not live to see this day.  In our last conversation, he decreed, while thumping his cane, that this book simply MUST be published.  Knowing him, he would have made certain that the news got into the New York Times, where he would have listed himself as co-author.

Next in line comes Suzanne Brady, my editor and dear friend who accompanied me to the Whitney Gala.  I am so glad she was able to see me win the award, because if it weren’t for her encouragement after my illness, I might not have gone back to Deseret.  Someone there had told me that they no longer wanted my fiction (during my ten year "vacation" from writing).  Also, she specifically encouraged me to submit The Last Waltz, and then had the daunting task of editing it.  It was too long.  I told her I simply could not take any more out of it.  Someone at DB believed me and lengthened the lines on the pages so that all my words would fit into the prescribed number of pages.

And where would I be without Jana Erickson, my enthusiastic product director?  She has supported me gracefully in all my angst and intensity about my work, despite my numerous, frantic e-mails.  She has many more books than mine to handle, but she always makes time for me.  I am also thankful to Gail Halladay and the PR staff at DB, as well as my wonderful cover designer, Sheryl Dickert Smith, who always seems to pull off a miracle when designing my covers.

Aren’t you glad I didn’t say all that last night?  But it needed saying! 

A final thank you to all my wonderful fans who voted for my book!  This award really belongs to you!

And what is with this new thing that will turn off all the lights in the house one by one (it has to have a code or something) from his bed?  For Christmas, I asked him if he had any particular requests.  He responded that I should check his wish list on Amazon.  There was something called a Dremel.  Because he had been so generous to me, I ordered it, having no idea what it was.  On Christmas morning I asked him, and he said it was “something that would get into little tiny places.”  Whatever that means.

When Jack came for Christmas, David bought this ridiculous blue thing that you hold up and aim at someone.  When you activate it, it sends an “air bomb” that will ruffle the target’s hair.  I mean, I ask you!

The other night was the absolute limit.  We were sitting in bed talking (about the need for all those flashlights) when suddenly a police siren went off in our bedroom.  We were both quite startled, as you can imagine.  I looked closely at the flashlights, thinking that was the logical place for some reason.  He checked the alarms.  Nada.  Finally, the source of the racket was discovered to be his I-Phone, which was warning him of a speed trap way down in the valley next to the freeway.  We live on the bench above Provo.  I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard.  I mean, really!  It was eleven p.m. and I think it would have served him right if it had awakened him!

Does anyone have a cure?

POSTCRIPT:  In the very few hours since I have posted this, my son arrived with a black bag.  “Here’s your computer, Dad.”  As I processed this during dinner, I realized that all three of our computers were present and accounted for.  After dinner, I said in dulcet tones, “Is this a new computer?”  His brown eyes were innocent as he said, “It’s used.”  He has just bought a new gadget: a Mac Computer.  I am so excited.  I have always wanted a Mac.  I can hardly wait to use it.

Delivery is expected June 15! 

I just booked a cruise yesterday to the Greek Isles (of course we will visit Florence first) that embarks on May 15, after being assured that our cruise insurance will cover cancellation due to early delivery of the munchkin!

It looks like I will need to stay with my daughter for about a month in order to keep Jack entertained, since he is such an interactive child and Buffy will need her rest. 

My book deadline for Crazy Ladies of Oakwood: Volume One-The Tuscan Escapade is April 1st, and it will come out in the fall, so it looks like everything will be neatly slotted into place.  (That makes me nervous–something is bound to go wrong!).

Embracing Abundance is with Covenant.  Am hoping it will come out this summer!