It's FRIDAY already?  Where'd my week go?  Well, let's see.......

On Tuesday our son came up from Tarpon Springs to spend a couple days with us.  We went to Gainesville that afternoon for lunch and for me to browse in a really neat yarn shop.  Details on this will follow on another blog entry.

Wednesday morning I had another telephone meeting for the Florida Writers Conference in November.  So that meant I was pretty busy after that with emails, typing up info, etc. etc.  A huge thank you to those of you that have contacted me to be a judge for our Royal Palm Literary Awards.  If you missed that blog on Monday, here's the link with all the info.  And you do not have to be a "professional" to be a judge.  If you're an avid reader and enjoy reading you might enjoy being a judge.  It isn't difficult and I'll provide good direction.  So contact me at my email ParisTJD@bellsouth.net

Yesterday I had to get my hair cut and colored.  (hey, a woman does have her priorities, ya know) After that I went to give an injection to somebody on the island.  I'm an RN and it's foolish for her to pay all-outdoors, plus the drive, to a dr. office for something I can easily do.  So I do this once a month for her.  After that, Ray and I went downtown to Cook's Cafe for lunch.  Then I actually sat for a half hour and got some knitting done.

What I'm reading right now:  I got Ken Follett's book, The Pillars of the Earth.  Oh wow.....I can't put it down.  ALL 978 pages of it.  It takes place in the Middle Ages and is excellent.  Smooth writing, great characters and a good plot.

Today I'm off to the Ivy House of Alachua, a restaurant, with the docents from the Historical Society and then we're going to tour Haille Plantation in Gainesville after lunch.  And yup, a blog entry on that will follow here soon.

Tomorrow I'll be at the Arts Center all day doing a Stamping class from 9:30 till 4:30.  I think it'll be fun and I'm looking forward to it.

So because I haven't been by to visit you all week, just wanted you to know I didn't fall off the face of the earth.  I'm still here.  Just extra busy right now.  But I hope to pop by your place over the weekend.  Till then.....

See you here next time.......

As I had recently mentioned, we'll be returning to Paris in May.  I have that part of the trip all booked and confirmed.  We'll be arriving in Paris on May 6 for a week.  This time I've booked an apartment in our very favorite area, Montparnasse.  It's a large studio apartment, with an elevator in the building, a balcony and yes....of course......WIFI for my laptop.

When I started planning this late October we were considering going to Cairo and Istanbul.  A cruise down the Nile sounded wonderful and those bazaars of Istanbul were very enticing.  But then.....I admit it.....I got a little hesitant based on world events.  I'm thinking that just might not be the best place to be right now.  So that idea got put aside and Paris won out once again.

However, it's not just going to be Paris.  We have some other things planned as well.  We'll be flying into Paris on May 1, renting a car and driving to Normandy.  And we'll have Brian and Veronique with us.  Ray and I were in Normandy in 1985.  It was incredibly poignant to visit the area where my dad was for the D-Day Invasion.  But it's now been over twenty years since we visited and Brian has never been there.  Ray is a WWII history buff and Brian would like to visit with him.  So we'll be spending one night in Normandy and then we're driving south to Brittany.  We'll be staying there for 3 nights in that area and getting to meet Veronique's parents and family while we're there.  Then on Tuesday we head to Paris for a week.

Those of you that know me, know how much I love France.  So although it's only January.....I'm really looking forward to May and our upcoming trip.

See you here next time........

Some of you may recall that my unpublished manuscript, SEEKING SYDNEY, was the recipient of the Royal Palm Literary Award for First Place in November at the Florida Writers Association Conference in Orlando.  I've always been a firm believer in giving back.  Therefore, I've volunteered to be the Chairperson for the Royal Palm Literary Awards for 2008.  I won't be entering my work this coming year and felt it was a good chance to give back to other writers.

It will be a very time-consuming job, but it will also be a challenge and I'm sure I'll enjoy it.  I've been in touch with the Conference Director, Chrissy Jackson, and we've already had a very informative telephone meeting to start preparing for November.  The first of many meetings to come. 

In order to be eligible to enter the contest, one must be a member of Florida Writers.  You don't have to live in the state of Florida to be a member.  Annual membership is $35.  If you think you might be interested, please visit the website at http:www.floridawriters.net  Information about membership is there along with lots of other information. 

I know I have many writers that visit Island Writer, in addition to many avid readers.  One of my duties as Chairperson is to find judges that will be helping to choose the winners of the Royal Palm Award this year.  Each entry must be read by three judges.  We have a wonderful set of rubrics to guide the judges in their scoring.  Rubrics consist of all the criteria to be considered when giving scores to each piece of work.  Writers and readers will easily be able to make fair and intelligent choices based on these rubrics.  And it is the scoring of the judges that will determine the winners.  Also, judges remain anonymous.  If you feel you'd like to participate as a judge, please contact me privately at my email address:  ParisTJD@bellsouth.net

Entries will begin being submitted March 1 and must be postmarked by August 1.  The entries will be tracked by me, given a number (no names are allowed to be on the work) and sent blind to the judges.  Return postage will be provided for the judge to return the scored work back to me.

Not everyone likes to read the same things and some writers or readers may feel more qualified in certain genres.  Judges will choose which genre they'd like to read.  Here's the list of categories for the 2008 Royal Palm Awards.

FICTION:

• Mainstream

• Horror

• Children's

• Young Adult

• Romance

• Women's Fiction

• Humor/Satire

• Sci-Fi/Fantasy

• Mystery

• Thriller

• Flash Fiction

• Short Story

NON-FICTION:

• Educational/Informational

• Biography

• Memoir

• History

• Essays

• Humor/Satire

• Travel

• Poetry

If you think you'd like to enter the contest in one of the above categories, please visit the Florida Writers website to become a member.  Contest entrants do not have to be present at the Banquet to receive an award.  For many beginner writers this is a wonderful opportunity to get your work "out" there, be critiqued with constructive feedback and possibly win an award.  Awards open doors to climbing up that very difficult ladder in a writing career.

If you think you'd enjoy being a judge, please do contact me via my email address above. 

And as you can probably see.....I have my work cut out for me in the coming year.  But I guess I thrive on staying busy and staying involved and doing something like this also gives me a sense of satisfaction. 

See you here next time.........

My blogging buddy, Dave, was surprised yesterday that I hadn't talked about the Iowa Caucuses.  He's right.  I didn't.  But I'm not sure why I didn't.  I'm now recovered from that sinus headache and my head has cleared enough to talk politics.

I don't know about you, but when I was growing up in the 50's and 60's discussing politics wasn't always the "polite" thing to do.  The issues may have been discussed or even the pros and cons of various candidates.  But it wasn't common for most people to actually admit who they were voting for or had voted for.  I have no idea why this was.  But I do remember being taught that two things I shouldn't ever get into a debate about were religion and politics.  And one's voting choice always seemed to be this huge secret.  However, in my house it wasn't like that.  I knew from a very young age that both my parents were registered Democrats.  I also knew that my mother's father was "a die-hard Democrat."  But being a product of the 60's, I also knew I had the choice to register for whichever party I wanted.  It didn't take me very long to fully understand that like my grandfather before me, I too was a die-hard Democrat.  I strongly felt that the Democrats were for the "working people" and the older I got and the more I researched and gathered more knowledge, I also strongly felt that the Democrats were the ones that would protect the less fortunate of our society.....the poor, the sick, the elderly, the minorities.  People that were entitled to health care and education and the basic necessities of life just as much as the rich. 

And what I came to understand about the Republicans was that big business was of the utmost importance.  The more they had, the more they wanted.  To the detriment of all of the above.  Without expounding more on why I chose the party that I did......I hitched my wagon to the Democratic party and I've been tied to it ever since I first voted in 1968.  I'd just turned 21 years old that March (voting age then) and was thrilled that I'd be casting my first vote ever for Robert F. Kennedy that November.  Unfortunately, that wasn't to be.  He was assassinated that April.  But I did vote for Hubert Humphrey.  Nixon won by a narrow margin and by the time he finished his Presidency, I knew I'd made the right choice for my party.

And I was one of many Massachusetts residents who proudly sported the bumper sticker, "Don't Blame Me---I'm From Massachusetts."  In case you may have forgotten......Massachusetts was the ONLY state to NOT vote for Nixon that year.  Yup.....49 to 1 and I was mighty proud to be in that "1" after the chaos that Nixon created, ending with his resignation in disgrace. 

So I can say now.....after the horrific eight years this country has endured....."Don't Blame Me---I Voted Democrat."  I'm appalled with this needless war and needless loss of life, stunned by gas prices, fuel prices, the healthcare situation, lack of jobs, and on and on.......but, I can also say it wasn't MY vote that caused ANY of this. 

While I may have been here yesterday chatting about celebrity role models, I can assure you that my eyes and ears were on Iowa.  And yes, folks......I was mighty happy to see Obama do so well.  Some of you might recall about a year ago I had an icon on my sidebar here on my blog that said, "Run Obama Run."  I got a lot of smirks and arched eyebrows over that.  People saying, "You don't really think he's going to run do you?  He doesn't have a chance."  Somewhere deep inside of me, I knew he had a chance.  I had faith and I had hope.  Two of the things our country was built on.  So yes.....I was mighty happy about his win in Iowa. 

I won't lie....I could also live with Edwards or Hillary.  But my choice?  Obama all the way!  People say he has no experience.  Need I remind anybody about the "experience" that Bushy brought to his Presidency?  But even more important, I feel very comfortable that Obama will surround himself with bright, intelligent people.  People that want to heal this country and bring about good change as much as he does.  Being President isn't an isolated job....it's a team effort.  And I have no doubt he'd put together a great team.

And since we're on this subject, now would be a good time for me to voice my disgust with Fox News......they're indicating that Obama's win in Iowa had a lot to do with the "Oprah Affect."  I don't know about Iowa, but I do know not even Oprah could sway my decision as to who I thought was the best person to lead our country.  Please, Fox, give some of us a little credit for not being sheep! 

And so, there ya have it........just my opinion.  And now.......On to New Hampshire!  See you here next time.......