Heartfelt Goodbye

My heart goes out to the family, friends, and fellow fans of Carrie Fisher. Her wit and talent will forever be an inspiration. I'm so grateful my daughter had someone so special to call a role model. 

Goodnight, sweet Princess,

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

  

Another Fab Comic Con

Comic Con in San Diego this past July was its usual blast and a half. 

One of my favorite parts of Comic Con is Nerd HQ an offsite venue which is the brainchild of Zachary Levi. Besides providing a great spot to connect with other pop culture nerds, he hosts Conversations for a Cause. Proceeds from these celeb convos support the charity Operation Smile, an international medical charity that provides free surgeries for children in developing countries who are born with cleft lip, cleft palate, or other facial deformities.

I was lucky enough this year to score tickets to a convo with the funny, talented, and completely genuine Zach Levi as well as one with Scott Bakula who played Zach's dad on the series Chuck. Both conversations were super uplifting and positive.

My "find" of this year was stumbling across the Entertainment Weekly offsite panels in a small park next to the marina. I hit the jackpot scoring front row seats to see the 
Agents of Shield

and 

Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk talking about their hilarious web series CON MAN. 

By far the best part of Comic Con was cheering on friends, Stacey Lee and Elizabeth Briggs, exquisite YA authors, at their panel on diversity in YA lit. They were brilliant and insightful.

 The shopping on the convention floor is the 
essence of temptation. My favorite purchase of Comic Con 2016 was of course, Star Wars merch!

If you ever have the chance to journey to 

Comic Con in San Diego

GO - GO - GO!

Do you have any Comic Con stories to share?

Making the Bold Choice

I have the good fortune to live in a family of artists. My son is an actor, my daughter a writer, their dad a scenic designer, and his husband a graphic artist.

Chats around the dinner table drift to subtext, intention, symbolism, and artistic risk-taking.

The winner of this summer's boldest choice goes to my son, Cameron Rose. He is part of the repertory theater company, Theatricum Botanicum, in L.A., founded by Will Geer. This summer he performs as Claude in Moliere's, Imaginary Invalid.

Claude is a fop, full of pretense and entitlement. So you're picturing something like this...

...right?

Now add to the over the top wig and chunky heels Cam's acting choice. His characterization of Claude is a man influenced by the chickens he grew up with on the family farm, embued with the physicality of head-pecking, squawks and wing flaps. 

And it works...to the point of hilarity.

The costumed visual would have been enough to incite giggles, but taking the farce to poultry proportions took guts. It could have fallen on its face and been "pooh-poohed" as too silly, but a slew of thumbs up reviews validated the bold choice.

Bravo!

As a writer, I'm taking a page from Cam's book. Take the risk. Don't settle into a comfort zone of storytelling. Stretch, reach, and go to a place that might not be in my wheelhouse...yet. 

The payoff just might be a delicious chicken dinner.

What has inspired you to bust through that glass ceiling in your writing?

Streaming Gold

I have officially joined the ranks of the unplugged - cable TV unplugged. It was a choice that made me break out in hives at first. Whatever will I do without my weekly installment of Agents of Shield? 

Alas, my worries were unfounded. As a "streamer," I had to wait a smidge of time for Coulson and company, but when they did blip onto onto Netflix, I blissfully binge watched the entire season in a swoop.

I embraced and discovered shows that I missed when I was plugged in. Here are a scant few of my faves:

(How can you not love a show set in West Covina with musical numbers?)

and the list goes on...

and on...

and on!

There are more shows at my fingertips than I can possibly catch up with. 

Soooooo happy

Have you switched to streaming only? What gold nuggets have you discovered or finally caught up with?

Celebrating Friends

There is nothing I enjoy more than cheering for the lovely work of friends in the writing community. This month my fangirl meter is in the red. 

Here are some shiny new releases I triple dog dare you not to ADORE. I'm going alphabetically by author because I could NEVER choose a fave among these kickin' stories.

Future Shock by Elizabeth Briggs is a nail biting sci-fi adventure that will make you run into the garage and burn your time machine. 

Fight the future. Face the inevitable. 

South of Sunshine by Dana Elmendorf is an endearing and courageous LGBT love story set against the backdrop of often narrow-minded southern mentality. 

In a town like Sunshine, Kaycee knows better than to fall for a girl.

Soul Conquered by Lisa Gail Green is the culmination of her OF ANGELS AND DEMONS trilogy. I never thought I'd cheer for a demon, but this story deftly blurs the lines between good and evil. 

What do you do when following your heart could lead to the apocalypse?

In Real Life by Jessica Love makes me want to repair the time machine I destroyed after reading FUTURE SHOCK and go back in time to encourage my teen self to be truthful about my affections. AND IT'S SET IN VEGAS! 

This is the moment that launched a thousand daydreams.

Bravo ladies for your wonderful work.