Lyn's Licks & Laughs...with alter egos Bobbie Cole & Sunny

1. Gazebos tend to blow over during high winds. Mine has blown over twice since Father’s Day. The frame will most likely be set up (and staked to the ground this time) at the far edge of our back yard where it will become a multiple trellis next spring to hold tomato plants, green beans, cucumbers, and gourds. Of course, I take no responsibility for any fat birds or squirrels who decide to take up residence on it.

2. I have some extremely talented critique partners. One CP, Sara Hantz, has written a delightful YA novel, and I can’t WAIT to dig into this. It debuts next month!

The Second Virginity of Suzy Green by Sara Hantz

Genre: Young Adult
Paperback: 258 pages
Publisher: Flux (September 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 073871139X
ISBN-13: 978-0738711393

Suzy Green used to be one of the coolest nonconformist “almost-Goth” party girls in Australia. That was before her older sister Rosie died and her family moved to a new town. Not even her best friend would recognize her now. Gone are the Doc Martens and the attitude. All she wants is to be like Rosie—perfect. The new Suzy Green makes straight As, hangs with the in-crowd at her new school, and dates the hottest guy around. And since all her new friends belong to a virginity club, she joins, too. So what if she’s not technically qualified?

Nobody in town knows . . . until Ryan, Suzy’s ex, turns up.

As the past and present collide, Suzy struggles to find her own place in a world without her sister.

Read an excerpt on http://www.sarahantz.com/
Buy the book at: amazon.com, Barnes & Noble bookstores, Borders Books

Sara Hantz started writing when she ran out of degrees to study and decided it was much more fun to make things up than to comment on dry academics. Born in England, she moved to New Zealand a few years ago. The Second Virginity of Suzy Green is Sara's first novel.

3. The best way to pit a peach is to cut along the ‘seam’ to the pit all the way around the fruit – then twist the halves in opposite directions.

4. Teaching is good for the soul. I have had a blast this month working with the Heart of Dixie Romance Writers of America and the writers’ workshop attendees who took my class on writing short fiction. I will dearly miss the interaction with the likes of Marilyn, Misty, Karla, Anita (Lord, she has great recipes), Michelle, Darlene, Sheila, Ingrid, Betty, Diana, Judith G, Judith M, Karen, Kim, Mary, Mary Ellen, Suzy, Kim (the other Kim), Jeanine, Pam, Macy, Irene, Robbi (good luck with that new magazine, Mz Editor!), and the others, some of whom are lurking in the rafters (they have day jobs, kids, families, LIVES, ya know). Anyway, thanks for hanging in there with me, ladies – it’s been a blast!

5. I have some talented, wonderful, and generous fellow writer pals whose contributions to the writers’ workshop have been sooo beneficial for many of us! Michelle, Pillow, Marie Harte, Cat Marsters, Charlene Teglia, Denise Patrick, Jordanna Kay, Josh Lockwood, Kris Starr, Summer Devon, Liz Wolfe, Meg Allison, Pam Payne, Shonna Brannon, Misty Wright, Marilyn Puett, Alexis Fleming, Ann Wesley Hardin…I can’t thank you enough! And if I’ve omitted anyone (GOD FORBID), let me know, because our class was richer for your contributions.

6. I miss writing for the TRUES – lol. I do, I do – I didn’t realize it until this month during the class I’m teaching. I had a lot of fun writing for those editors.

7. Janet is as crazy as ever and is the email QUEEN – I swear, I have no clue where she gets half the stuff she sends me, but she has to be internet royalty to be able to snag all of it.

8. I miss the hell out of Merry when she’s having a Life. I’m happy Richard is home, delighted she’s getting this new house built, but I miss The Garage Sale Girls (Mer, Bev, and Becky, along with Jess and me) and our outings. Maybe this fall…

9. Tiramisu isn’t difficult to make, and it makes me feel like kissing my fingertips and shouting BRAVISIMO when I’ve done a good job making it.

10. I am a frappuccino ho. I get twitchy without iced, coffee-flavored concoctions with whipped cream. I’m also a frap’ connoisseur. In my neck of the woods, Scooter’s serves the best, followed by Starbucks and Homer’s.

11. It takes approximately eleven months after the first leaf falls here to get the last one raked and bagged.

12. Spiders are vicious, and their bites hurt…a lot. And 12 is about the number of bites I sustained during the past week before the exterminator visited today. Ugh. I had one bite from an itty bitty baby Fiddleback when I was about seventeen – a while ago – and I’d forgotten how crappy I felt afterwards. Today, I took perverse pleasure in watching spiders and ants outside our home committing suicide when the exterminator doused them.

13. Shaving a dog isn’t as difficult as I’d imagined. Dog even likes the new look. I don’t have the heart to tell her it’s a tad butchered.