I'm baaaaaaack!

Colorado was as beautiful as I remember it (I was last there way back in 1981). We spent most of our time in the suburb of Aurora rather than the city, but we did get down to the 16th Street Mall on Friday, both for lunch and dinner. My brother was absolutely shocked to see so many of his family members sitting there when my mother (who flew out a day earlier) took him and a friend to dinner. He first noticed his own children and grandchildren before he realized that my sister and I were also present. His 60th birthday was fun for all of us. I'd never been to the Mongolian Barbeque before, but I'll be going again!

I rented a PT Cruiser convertible (the weather was in the 70s) and zoomed around the mountains to an elevation of 8,500 feet, up to the historic town of Black Hawk, which now looks like a Las Vegas of the mountains, with two- and three-story casinos and saloons all over the place. I went into Fitzgerald's with $10 and left with $44 (my motto is, when you win don't stick around to give it back.)

You can't believe how close the moon looks at that higher altitude. But Black Hawk is some 3,000 feet higher than the Mile High City. I would have loved to see the moon from there, but those curvy mountain roads are not meant to be driven down after dark.

Anyway, I'm back and am working on my copyedited manuscript, which is the last chance I'll have to do any re-writing of Once Upon A Project. My editor wanted them, like, yesterday, but it's a huge work - 117,000 words - and I've already spotted several continuity errors that even she didn't catch, so I will look at it extremely carefully before sending it back. The first rule of publishing is that a rushed book is a sloppy book. Unfortunately, these edits have a way of showing up just before I leave for vacation.

Check my blog next week for a special sneak preview of the cover art. And please check out the interview I did with Gwyneth Bolton on her blog, www.gwynethbolton.blogspot.com .

Good to be back!