Join Penny Ehrenkranz, Virginia S. Grenier and me on Blog Talk Radio

This is the day of my first radio show and I'm very excited!! The authors who are going to be my guests have graciously announced the show and their interviews on their own websites and it is really going to happen.:)

I hope a lot of you will tune in at 2PM Central time to hear the show, Red River Writers Live Tales from the Pages. The show is going to explore short story writing with published authors of short stories and I thought it would be fun to see the other side of publishing, from the editor and publisher's side. So my first two guests are: Penny Ehrenkranz and Virginia S. Grenier. I have interviewed Penny on this blog already, but although Virginia is a friend, and I love Stories for Children, the magazine she founded online for children, I don't know enough about her. I will be looking forward to learning more about Penny and it will be fun to peek inside the thoughts of an editor and publisher, Virginia.

There is a widget here you can use to listen live to the program or you can go to the webpage and call into the show. Lori Calabrese, also a multi - published author, will be my co-host.

Also, right after the show is over, I am going to go see the live tour of So You Think You Can Dance. It's in New Jersey, so because of traffic we have to leave at least three hours earlier. The show will end somewhere between 3:15PM Central and 3:30PM Central so it's cutting it very close. George Washington Bridge traffic could make you wait for an hour if it's thick and tomorrow is still going to be a day when there is gridlock in Manhattan. We have to go through Manhattan and over the bridge to get to New Jersey. But as you can see, I have two huge things to do tomorrow.

I hope to hear from some of you tomorrow and if you tune in you will be able to hear how I sound.:) Don't be worried if you can't make it at the live time. The show will be on podcast at whatever time you can tune in to hear it. I am doing that right now with an earlier show of one of the hosts, Barbara Hodges. She's got a great show too.:)

Still unable to get to my review of Evil Angel. Hope to finish it before the weekend. That is if my life allows it.:) Until the next time thank you to any new readers and my warmest thanks to those of you who continue to follow my meanderings.

Spending Time in The Stamford Town Mall on Rosh Hashonah

A Rosh Hashonah challah (from The Fresh Loaf)

Symbols of

Rosh Hashonah

from: ellen bloom.blogspot.com

Blowing the Shofar from: thefreedictionary.com

As have mentioned so many times when I leave my house I am never sure where I am going to wind up. Today my daughters and I got into the car and drove to Stamford. My older daughter’s company moved there, and she wanted to check out the city to see how to get around it. Of course, if you know what happens most time with us, we wound up in the Stamford Town Mall. You may not have been there, but it was in a movie with Bette Middler. They were supposed to be in LA, but anyone who knows the mall could recognize the crazy entrances and exits that curve uphill. The almost amusement park- type ramps make you feel like you are on this roller coaster ride. You keep going up the steep incline until at last you reach the top. We like to park on the lower levels so we headed down and parked on level 2 causing us walk three flights. It was good exercise. :)

The reason to be there was to find a jacket for my older daughter ,who was pestering us to get one all weekend . But we left there with a pair of Uggs for my younger daughter and the promise to have shoes delivered for my older daughter. Along with the shoes they bought they both got inserts to go into their sneakers and for my older daughter a pair of dress inserts for her new shoes. She selected a style that they were out of, so that's why the delivery was necessary.

Where did they find the shoes? It was not your usual shoe store at all. It is called The Walking Company, and if you have ever wanted to find stylish shoes for feet that are a little unusual with style and pizzaz, you must go there.

How we found it was we were at another shoe store one level underneath it and couldn't find any shoes for my older daughter. I think I mentioned once that the thing I dreaded most was going shoe shopping with her. OMG it usually takes around two or three hours and she tries on every shoe in her size in the store. Usually she takes the ones that hurt her the least.:) She has a flat foot that is also a little wider, so it's always excruciating trying to find her shoes. But The Walking Company was like going into shoe heaven for her and for my younger daughter, who has two different sized feet, also found a solution for her shoe problems.

Here is what they do. When you first come into the store they ask you to stand on a mat and then you see your feet and the areas of pressure on each foot. They give you a print-out with the diagram of your foot. The red areas are the pressure points and also it gives a suggestion for the insert you need to use. The girl who waited on us was very knowledgeable and very helpful. She was so patient and continued to look for shoes that would be good for my older daughter. You need to use a different insert for dress shoes than sports/casual shoes. My older daughter put the inserts into her sneakers and she said she felt so much better and it even made her look a little taller.:) My younger daughter also got the inserts that made her old shoes feel better and she got a great pair of Uggs. I didn't get anything, but I was drooling for a pair of black suede clogs with a flower on the side of the front of each shoe. You can see it in gray, but I loved it in black. I will be going back to see those shoes.:)

My advice is that if you have any kind of foot problem skip the podiatrist and go to The Walking Company to get inserts and beautiful shoes. The bonus for my older daughter was that she bought a shoe that had a free tote bag as a gift. This will be great for her new move to the new office. She starts tomorrow, but her new shoes won't be here until Tuesday.):

Also for some reason I haven't been receiving alerts that people have written comments here. I think that will be remedied by what I did today. So I am not ignoring you. I didn't know that you commented at all! I have been busy with the Jewish holidays and didn't get a chance to check the blog for a couple of days. It was Rosh Hashonah and I wish all my Jewish friends L'shona Tova!! Happy New Year!!! Happy 5770!!! We didn't do much, but I cooked for an entire day. You know the usual, chicken soup from scratch, brisket, mashed potatoes. We skipped the chopped liver and gefilte fish this year, but we did get a fresh baked challah and an amazing dessert from a favorite local bakery, The Kneaded Bread. I love their layer cakes and we shared such small pieces we were able to make four pieces of cake last for three days. :) We all ate so much challah and the slices were so large. You are supposed to dip it in honey so you will have a sweet year. My year according to the amount of challah and honey I ate should be stupendous!

Now for the last thing on my list to talk about and that is the drawing for the free e-book and the free print book will be held tomorrow. In honor of the New Year I am going to extend the deadline one more day, since I know some of you still haven't commented. Evil Angel is the prize and I think you are going to love it! With all the things I have been doing I haven't done the review yet, but when you hear what it is about and how crisp and dynamic the writing is you will be unhappy you didn't comment. Just write a few words and you will be entered into the drawing. What do you have to lose?

I also want to remind all of my readers that my first Blog Talk Radio show is on this Thursday, September 24th at 2PM Central Time. The show is called Red River Writers Live Tales from the Pages. My first two guests will be prolific short story/article writer Penny Ehrenkranz who also has two novels published, and Virginia S. Grenier, who is the editor and publisher of Stories for Children and has a novel for children published. Penny was a guest author on this blog and I am looking forward to interviewing Virginia. I have been a fan of hers for a long time! You can find the Blog Talk Radio widget on the side of this blog and if you click that you will find your way to the Red River Writers page. I will also be reading from one of my own short stories.

Until the next time, welcome to any new readers and thank you to all my frequent readers who continue to warm me with their comments.:)

BBAW Interview Coming Soon

I was contacted by another blogger named Simon Thomas, a graduate student at Oxford, who writes "Stuck-in-a-Book", last week who said he was my interview partner for BBAW. For anyone who isn't familiar with the acronym it is: Book Blogger Appreciation Week. The nominees for best blogs in a variety of categories are featured on the website. Of course, I didn't expect to win anything, but it was fun to see who did. I didn't know any of the blogs.

So in keeping with the spirit of BBAW Week I am presenting this little quiz that I hope you will enjoy. It's a little outside of my usual fare here, but it's BBAW Week and I thought I'd try something a little different. You can also find it on the website. Enjoy!! tomorrow or the next day I will post my review of RD Larson's Evil Angel. It all depends on how my life goes. Lately I never know how my days will end up or where I'll be.

What Are Your Reading Habits? (My own title)

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?
Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of
writing in books horrify you?
How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears?
Laying the book flat open?
Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?
Hard copy or audiobooks?
Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you
able to put a book down at any point?
If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?
What are you currently reading?
What is the last book you bought?
Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can
you read more than one at a time?
Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?
Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?
Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?
How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)

I haven't answered these yet, but I will and will share my answers with you. Feel free to share any of your answers too. Reading is so personal that I'm sure there are so many different answers.:)

Anyway, getting back to my interview partner, Simon Thomas, he sent me the questions and I answered them and then for some reason never sent back questions for him. So now he has the questions and hopefully we will both have our respective interviews up before the week is out.:) I think you will really enjoy getting to know him and his blog. Please check it out. You won't be sorry.:)

I'm keeping the contest going for the free ebook, Evil Angel, by RD Larson. All you need to do is visit Welcome Guest Author RD Larson, and leave a comment. Anyone who comments is in the drawing. She has both an ebook and a print book available. The contest will end on Sunday in honor of BBAW!:)

Welcome Guest Author RD Larson

Welcome Guest Author RD Larson

First of all, check out the new badge I put here from the NCTE, The National Council of Teachers of English. I have started a gallery for RealWritingTeachers and I have had a story of mine accepted into their gallery as well. Click on the badge to visit the gallery. If you have anything you want to submit to the gallery please submit it on their website. It is easy and most of what you submit will probably be accepted. If you are from RealWritingTeachers let me know when you submit your writing. They are also looking for children's writing. Especially on October 20, 2009, The National Day on Writing.

The interview with RD Larson is late, but that is because she was busy. Here is the interview without any further waiting. Though there is so much I could talk about, but I am sure you will enjoy this interview with RD Larson very much.:)

Guest Author Questions for RD Larson

Barbara: After getting a degree in Criminology, what made you decide to become a writer?

RD: I wasn't tall enough or heavy enough to be an effective patrol officer. I didn't realize it for a time but then when I saw others officers could cuff a suspect with ease, I knew I was putting them at risk. I always think I can do really physical things and I can, but not up against someone weighing 200 lbs when I weigh barely 100 lbs. I took up probation. When my kids were older, I worked for an electronics company, various retail stores and the government. When my last kid left home I was out of a job as a mom so I wrote a story that was accepted. I had written a lot when I was a child but college, marriage and kids as well as work, too, all of my time.

Barbara: How do the events in your own life affect your writing? Are any of the characters in your books and stories based on people that you know?

RD: No I never write about anyone I know. The characters are just born, whole and with a background, when I think of a plot. It's sort of like magic. I write pages and pages about the character before starting the story so I really know them. I guess they are somewhat like me but it doesn't feel like they are. They have different goals and ideas. I once wrote a story about a woman who took her kid to school and had a terrible problem. I said the woman wore a pink robe and had brown hair. The woman in the story had a flat tire at the school and the resident priest had to change her tire. At the time I wrote it I had a green bathrobe and blond hair. But my friend had a pink robe and brown hair. She was annoyed with me for years.

Barbara: Would you please describe your own writing process? Is it different for novels than it is for short stories?

RD: Maybe. A short story takes place in a short period of time. A novel can take place over months, years or lifetimes. I write by thinking of a sentence that fits the plot. A sentence that states the theme. I do this for both short stories and novels. Then I think "What if?" And I make lists and timelines of what if possibilities. I have to stand outside of myself when I write science fiction or fantasy to imagine the most unusual events. It's a bit like watching a movie. I can't wait for the next scene.

Barbara: How long did it take for you to publish your first piece of writing?

RD: I was first published at 10 and again at 14 but didn't seriously write for life until I was around forty. I sold my first article about being an older woman and taking charge of one's life. It seems funny now that it was more than 20 years ago. It was printed in a now-closed woman's magazine called Broomsticks.

Barbara: What was your first novel and how did the idea come to you to write it?

RD: My first novel was Mama Tried to Raise a Lady which was first published under the title: Mama Stories in 2000. It sold very well and I was thrilled. My mother was a Southern lady and when she had me she didn't know what to do with a wild tomboy who only wanted to play outside. So the stories are ones from my childhood when I lived on a working farm. I told the stories to my kids and other kids and even adults and when an editor said, "Do you have any more of these written?" I said yes and wrote down five or six more. Mama was first an ebook, then a print book, and now is an ebook again. I would love to have it printed again. People really like it, kids and grown-ups alike. It is still an ebook and is also listed at Amazon.

Barbara: Which do you like writing better, short stories or novels? Why?

RD: I guess I like short stories because I like to try to craft something that is a pleasure to the reader that can be complete it in a single sitting. Not as many people today read long books as I did when I was a child. I love novels though. The complexity and completeness of time make them a daring challenge and always a great effort. But then writing is hard work. I want to do the best that I can. I have a contract with readers that says I will try to write the best stories or novels that I can if they will take the time to read them. I hope I never let a reader down; yet, sometimes I do.

Barbara: Please tell us about a typical writing day for you. Where do you write? Are there things you must have for writing?

RD: I go to my office after breakfast and read my email. The I write until one o'clock when I take two hours for lunch with my husband and do errands in town. At three o'clock I begin to rewrite work that is current. At five o'clock I quit for two hours and have dinner. Then I work on new stories and novels until midnight or later. Boring, I guess, but I love it. My dog hangs out with me; she is waiting for walks on the break times.

Barbara: Some of your stories are available for free on-line. How did you decide which stories to offer for free?

RD: After the stories are around for awhile in ezines or in print and if I own the rights, I get a joy out of putting them up for free. I write more than I could ever sell. I write all the time. One story has sold at least ten times and now that story is at www.bewilderingstories.com under my name. It's called "The Whimsy" and it a Gothic genre gypsy mystery.

Barbara: Are you responsible for all of the marketing for your books or does your publisher contribute to your efforts?

RD: Not even the brick-and-mortar stores do as much in advertising as they use to do. Unless you're Paris Hilton or Hillary Clinton. My publisher, Arline Chase, does promote my book Evil Angel online but most of it is up to me. I'm not crazy about hawking my books but I do it or otherwise no one would know about anything I wrote! I give talks and and do book signings. I am trying to get much better at it. I just recently talked to some women about keeping a journal; I think that is a rewarding thing that everyone should do.

Barbara: Most of your stories seem to be about murders or seriously deranged people. Have you ever written anything that does not deal with crime?

RD: Oh, I think so. Lots of them are about dogs and the people who love them. There's quite a bit of scient fiction and horror. I have two books at www.fictionwise.com and www.mobipocket.com that are romance and drama. The first is Sorrow's Field, about a blind woman in the 1880's London and how she runs away from her adoptive cruel father to find her birth mother. The other is Doors: Five Stories of Strong Women. Also at www.fictionwise.com and www.mobipocket.com is a detective novella about Marion Riles Soft-boiled Detective. This humor and crime combined. These stories just run out the end of my fingers. Maybe I should harness my imagination AND my fingers.

Barbara: What are your plans for future books? Do you have a book ready to be published?

RD: I am finishing Broken Angels, a novel of two friends who meet in Memphis during the civil rights movement and continue to be friends for all their lives. Earle is emotionally damaged and Stumpy is phyically challenged. The research has been so much fun. They meet in 1961, graduate in 1972 and live their lives against the background of a changing culture. I currently have Tahki's Last Chance a book in progress with six chapters up at www.textnovel.com and a story about redemption and a dog called Red Ruby at www.bookrix.com. These last two are free, of course. People like free stories and I write so much that . . . well, I can't possibly sell them all.

Barbara: Evil Angel is your latest book. It is available as an eBook. Is this also available in print? How many of your books are also available in print?

RD: Yes, Evil Angel is at Amazon.com. Mama Tried to Raise a Lady, Saving Reverend Clayton with Louise Ulmer are there too. I have many many stories in anthologies. Those are listed on my website www.rdlarson.com . I also have a blog www.rdlarsonwriter.com on which I have reviews and interviews. Mostly though on the blog I write about Fiction Flash, Politcal Slash and Doggie Splash, my hobbies.


Hey Barbara, thank you for asking me to participate. If anyone has questions they can reach me at rd_larson2000@yahoo.com.

RD you are very welcome and it was my pleasure to have you here. Please stick around to answer any questions or comments anyone may have.

For all my readers, if you leave a comment or question we are giving out one of RD's book for FREE!!! There is one happy winner for every time I have had a guest host. This time it could be you. All you have to do is leave a comment or question.

Thank you to the new people who have become my friend from Blog Catalog and to all my new readers. Also thank you to the people who continue to read my meanderings and who warm my heart with your comments. Please visit some of my friends' blogs listed here. Also, if you are interested in finding any of RD Larson's books you can find them on amazon.com. Definitely read Evil Angel. It is a thriller to the end. There will be a review of it on the next post.

Welcome Guest Author RD Larson

First of all, after hearing everything today I am convinced that many people in this country don't understand how to be Americans and live in a democracy. Yes, it's okay to be against what the president says, but it is not okay to advocate that children cannot hear the president in real time!

Yes, today in Minnesota and five other states the State Boards of Education decided that they were not going to allow the president of the United States to speak to their student population without not only parental consent, but also before they saw his speech! I am overwhelmed by all of this. When I was a girl it was considered a very big deal when the president spoke to us. As a parent I would never have said that my president couldn't speak to my children. That includes the presidencies of several presidents that did not share my political views at all. But this is too much!! The president has actually listened to these wackos and is allowing them to see his speech a day in advance. Why are they screening a president's speech? It's ludicrous and part of the sickness that has overtaken the Republican party.

Do these parents actually believe that President Obama is going to indoctrinate their children with his fascist or Communist (the label changes constantly) ideas? Or are they so worried that maybe their children might see him as a great man and the president of the United States? Teachers are being urged to save the speech and show it at a later time. This is amazing! When did schools control the president? Who are these parents who called to say they didn't want their children listening to the president? What have they been hearing? I think that they have been listening too much to the right wing nuts who spray their venom all over Fox News and the right wing radio talk shows of Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage. It is disgraceful and I think treasonous. This should not be tolerated.

As a teacher I see this as a form of censorship and I implore these parents to stop this right now. President Obama is the rightful and elected president of our country. We had to live for eight long years under the ineffectual, yet surprisingly autocratic leadership of the Bush Administration. Maybe the attitude of the Republican party is a leftover of the cancer of that administration. We must treat this with a dose of common sense and not allow it to take over our lives. We must fight back and remind these parents that they are Americans and therefore they must listen to their president. Anything less is what I would consider treasonous and should be punished rather than kowtowed to as is happening. Would Bush have stood for this? I hated him, but he did what he wanted. President Obama I know you don't read my blog, but please stand up for yourself and tell off these people once and for all when you give your big speech.

Okay, enough politics and I'm not going to apologize for my views. I think it's time for everyone to take a harder look at their own opinions and stand behind them. That is if they are based on fact and not on a series of half truths linked together with lies.:) Also that is only for my Democratic friends who need to stand up to the barrage of craziness that is being ladled by the Republicans and the groups that support them.

Now for RD Larson:

I thought we would have her interview here now, but we had to move it one day to tomorrow. But here is a bit about her so you will be prepared. She is a very prolific writer of both short stories and novels and I am very excited to have her as my guest author. Here is a fan site where you can learn more about her.

Please go to her website to see the enormous amount of stories and books she has written. You can also download some of her stories for FREE! You won't be sorry.

One more thing before this ends. A good writing friend of mine who was one of the guest authors here, Penny Ehrenkranz, has written an excellent article for "Writing World.com" called, "Mixing it Up: Writing Across Genres"about writing in different genres. You may notice as you are reading that I contributed a bit to it. :) There are a lot of great tips for writers who want to write in several different genres.

Until tomorrow when we will have the pleasure of meeting RD Larson, thank you to all the people who have come here and expressed their pleasure at reading my meanderings.:) Please leave a comment and let me know. I will try to answer them, but if I don't, I always read all the comments. I am also on Twitter: @Barbehr.

A Sad Weekend and This is My Life!

Edward M. Kennedy with his brothers, left to right: John F. Kennedy(assasinated during his first term on November 23, 1963, Robert Kennedy (assasinated after he won the California primary for president on June 6, 1968.in Hyannis, Massachusetts. [Photo via TIME].

This weekend I spent the majority of it mourning the loss of a great statesman and legislator, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Ted to most of us. It seems that this summer has been one for death and mourning. For awhile the weather dripped sadness on us as well. But this last week we had bright sunshine and beautiful days. Just like summer should be. So it was a shock when I first heard of Senator Kennedy's death.

I was going through my tweets on my Twitter when all of a sudden I saw a small mention of his death in The New York Times. Not sure if it was true I checked out the article and sure enough they said he died. At first I was sad, but it was not the kind of sadness that made me weep. Instead it was more an introspective sadness that reminded me that he was the last Kennedy brother and that I had been alive to see all three of them, John, Robert, and Ted pass away. The first two didn't live to be Ted's age, so he outlived them. I remember where I was when both John and Robert were killed. I was in my philosophy class when someone came in to tell us to have us listen to the radio and told us that the President had been shot. We listened and then heard the sad news that he had died. My college, SUNY at Cortland, gave us the rest of the days off, since it was going to be Thanksgiving vacation anyway in a day or two. We went home and spent the time praying in whatever religious institution we frequented and watching the sad events of his funeral on TV. We got to know Walter Cronkite very well and it was the first time we had the TV on all night and through the rest of the day. I'll never forget those pictures of Jackie and the children.

This weekend reminded me of that time. When Robert Kennedy was killed we were living in California, in LA and we could have gone to the hotel. But my husband saw the crowds and he HATES crowds, so we stayed home and watched it on TV.

While watching TV we saw the horror on people's faces and then the call for a doctor and finally heard that Robert Kennedy had been shot. The sidewalk under my world literally fell out and we mourned him as if he were our own flesh and blood. We watched the train take him to his sad destination and the crowds that lined the rails to see him off. In a few months we said goodbye to California and went back to our home state, New York. It had been a horrible year with the death of Martin Luther King a few months before this. The heart went out of the Democratic Party at that time, I believe, and it didn't return for years afterward.

But this weekend I saw a change in the way Democrats mourn their leaders. There was a message at Ted Kennedy's funeral and memorials. Knowing that he orchestrated everything I am sure that it was his direction that brought young people to the podium to pray for health care reform. It was Ted Kennedy's spirit that sat there with his nieces and nephews as they mouthed words that Ted Kennedy would never say again. Ted Kennedy's spirit felt to me like it was urging Democrats on to pass that health care bill. And I did feel inspired to work to pass it. But now I just read that Max Baucus the Blue Dog Democrat is supporting single payer! It's going to work like my husband said it would. Only this time it will be Ted Kennedy's ghost observing from his Senate seat holding his thumb up and cheering the tentative steps of the defectors for Health Care Reform as they work to pass the best health care reform bill ever to reach the Senate. And I see the victorious press conference of those who worked to pass the bill giving credit to Ted Kennedy for his untiring efforts while he was alive. Then maybe his ghost will be able to go back to what he loves most - sailing. Sail on Senator Kennedy !!!!

So from the sublime to the utterly ridiculous now. This morning while both my daughter and I were in the house, though I was sleeping (She was listening to the radio very loudly so she didn't hear it either. ) the glass cover over our light fixture in the kitchen fell and cracked into a million pieces. When we both came into the kitchen I stopped, because she said: "Oh my god, you won't believe what fell!" It's a kitchen, so it could have been anything. I thought maybe it was food. But then I peeked around the corner and there on the floor underneath the light fixture was a pile of cracked glass. Glass shards were everywhere and we both said: "Put on shoes." After the last experience of cleaning up glass we both wanted to make sure we didn't get a cut as she did last time.

The fun outcome of this experience after we had swept and then vacuumed up all of the tiny pieces of the glass cover was that we needed to get another cover for the fixture. We went to Home Depot thinking we might get a replacement cover there. But when we got there all they had was complete fixtures. You won't believe how many light fixtures there are and how different they are. We finally picked one that seemed it would fit and we are hoping that we can just use the glass cover, because if we can't it will mean contacting our landlord and having her find someone to put it on for us. You have to cut the power to the house to install it, so we're not doing it. She will probably have one of her friends do it. But maybe she'll hire an electrician. The last time we asked her to help us with something she just did it herself.:) So we'll see. Meanwhile we are now the proud owners of a new ceiling light fixture.:) By the way, Home Depot was filled with people. Maybe the recession is starting to get better. Or maybe people see summer is ending and they still haven't finished their projects. Nothing like the start of school to make people realize summer is over.:)

Just before I was about to publish this post something else happened with this light fixture. We had put up only the glass cover and it was staying put. Also we had put in those energy saving light bulbs. But living with the frosted glass cover and those energy saving light bulbs we decided that the cover had to go. My daughter got the cover off without a hitch and then decided to change back the lightbulbs to the old ones. She unscrewed the first new one and then in transferring it to a table she dropped it and the thing cracked into a zillion pieces. You would think not a problem, because all you have to do is sweep up the pieces and vacuum. But no not with these light bulbs. My daughter read that they have mercury and there are specific things you should do when they are dropped. I am including the five steps you should use if you do drop an energy saving light bulb. I think some of these are a little drastic. We stayed in the room and used a broom, though we did put it outside and now need to buy a new one. We used a dust buster and then I washed every washable part. :) The most important thing is to get children, pets and yourself out of the room after you open a window. Also, if you are pregnant don't be near the stuff either. Most of all don't vacuum!!!

Until the next time, thank you to new readers and to all the people who have friended me. Please remember that I will be hosting a show every fourth Thursday each month on Blog Talk Radio. It is called: Red River Writers Live Tales from the Pages. I will be interviewing authors who have published short stories and articles and publishers of magazines and ezines who publish short stories and articles. I will also be reading a little from my own adult short story. My first guests will be Virginia S. Grenier who publishes Stories for Children online and Penny Ehrenkranz who is one of the authors I interviewed here. If you want to be on the show visit the website and leave me a message. I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Catch me on Twitter too! @barbehr.

Next time I will be interviewing RD Larson, who is also a writer of short stories and has a new book just published, Maliase. I know you are going to enjoy meeting RD. I did!!