I should be packing. My suitcase, known as "the large black one," is the one that needs to go into the trunk first when we go on vacation. Since I NEVER am ready on time I truly think that the trunk organization scheme should be re-thought so mine is placed in LAST, but these are the moments that family vacations are born from. I still am trying to figure out how to sneak in the large box of books that I have been pulling together these past weeks. It's always the heaviest thing in the trunk and there is great moaning about carrying it into the beach house once we get to North Carolina!

Last night I worked late at the office...really late. I came home and could not get myself into a relaxed enough mood to sleep, so I picked up I FEEL BAD ABOUT MY NECK by Nora Ephron. And I started laughing. A lot. Her writing is great and she's funny in that way I love in that there is not just one funny line, there's a followup and then another and sometimes a third. I ran into an old friend (old as in I know her a long time, not old as in age) on the street this week who told me that she has been buying multiple copies of this book to give to her girlfriends as she has enjoyed it so much. I found myself making a list of people who I think will love it as I was reading last night. And I can see all of them buying multiple copies for their friends.

This week as I was writing emails I realized how much of a better writer I have become since I started writing on a computer. I write more. I write faster. But more than that I edit myself. A lot. I constantly am moving words, phrases and sentences to convey what I want to say more clearly, which was an effort in the days of scrawling on legal pads and typing on typewriters. I find I write more conversationally and less "tight" when I bang out copy on a computer compared to when I handwrite. I also type almost as fast as I think (which is scary sometimes to people on the staff). Since I handwrite like a chicken (at my son's school they once asked what kind of doctor I was) typing allows people to actually READ what I write.

This month on FaithfulReader.com we are celebrating the last weeks of summer with some wonderful features and inspiring titles perfect for late summer reading and looking ahead to fall.

When we left off last week I was at the Romance Writers of America convention in Atlanta. Friday evening of the convention many publishers host parties. My 16-year-old son accompanied me to them and it was nice for him to meet my author and publishing pals. At the Harlequin party there was a DJ and a packed dance floor. He was joking that he was learning to line dance from watching a group of authors. How many guys will say THAT at the junior prom? We kept telling him more hip, less shoulders and by the end of the night there was some pretty good rhythm going on. By midnight I was ready for bed and he was ready for room service. Ah, to be 16 again.