I’ll start posting my schedule in January — never too soon to start thinking about warmer weather, Dilly Bars, and the perfect ripe tomato!

TOMATO SHRIMP ASPIC

1 cup hot water
2 small packages lemon gelatin
3 cups tomato juice
1 cup whole shrimp
1 cup shrimp pieces
3/4 cup finely chopped celery
1 small green pepper, finely chopped

Dissolve gelatin in hot water. Add tomato juice and chill until mixture begins to thicken. Add remaining ingredients. Chill until firm.

Enjoy!

P.S. And to my dear friend, Kaye, down in Little Rock — how about this??? Two days in a row!!!

OK, I think it’s obvious now that I may be the worst blogger ever — I think a New Year’s Resolution is in order!

But I wanted to let you all know that I will be in Catherine Grace’s hometown on Saturday, December 6th, signing books at Never-Ending Books from 1 - 3. Come by and say I if you live in the area.

I’ll also be in Chattanooga this weekend at the brand new Barnes and Noble opening at Hamilton Place Mall. That’s Saturday the 22nd from 2 - 4 pm.

I’ll be back in touch in a day or two — I have a Thanksgiving treat for you. Yes, of course it involves tomatoes!

I am so excited that Dairy Queen is finding a young audience. Catherine Grace is, after all, a teen herself!

Writing is all about rewriting though and I do believe with each revision it only gets better and better. But I’m hoping it’s at a real good place now because I’m eager to get on with my next one. And with school starting here in the Gilmore house this week, I have no excuses but to get back to work too.

My older sister would encourage me along. She’d bring me an ice-cold Coca-Cola and promise me that even though I could hear all the others kids outside swimming and playing no one was really having any fun. Of course, she had finished her reading weeks before and savored her Halloween candy well into December.

Now, all grown up, I can think of no better way to spend the summer but to plop myself down on the beach and read. Since I no longer live in LA, the beach part is harder to pull off, but I still love the idea, pleasure and reality of summer reading.

My list is long this year — Chris Bohjalian’s The Double Bind, Khaled Hosseini’,s A Thousand Splendid Suns, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, Randall Kenan, Let The Dead Bury Their Dead, Patricia Marx’s Him Her Him Again The End of Him, Ann H. Gabhart’s Orchard of Hope and Virgina Boyd’s One Fell Swoop — and many, many more that have found their way to my bedside table now forming a wall between me and the bathroom!

But I find it rather fitting, or possibly ironic, that the very school I went to here in town has placed my book on their summer reading list. I can’t help but wonder how many girls will be reading about Catherine Grace and the folks in Ringgold — well into the night the day before school starts!

I haven’t been much of a blogger lately. OK, who are we kidding, I’ve never been a very good blogger. But that’s about to change. I just finished BOOK #2 (yet to be titled and would appreciate any and all title suggestions!). And now I am going to blog more — promise. Write that newsletter I’ve talked about and cook dinner once and a while. The kids are looking lean and hungry!

But come on now, I need you guys to enter my DQ contest or I”m going to be eating those 365 Blizzards myself. And for those who know me, and my sweet tooth, I’ll do it, every last one of them.

But for now, a glass of wine to celebrate the completion of Book #2.

So sorry I have been out of touch. I am desperately trying to finish book #2 and if I stay on schedule (and quit checking my email) I should have it done by the middle of June. But, I wanted to stop for a minute and invite all of you readers in a bookclub to drop me a line. If you’re reading Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen I’d be happy to phone in and join the fun. Okay, even if you’re reading another book, I’ll still phone in!

Thanks Maggie and may this prove the best challenge ever!

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