Now, this was rather interesting. Most of you know that we have a Facebook group called Commercial Fishing Families & Friends. (And by the way, if you have a Facebook account and have not already joined us, please do so! We are already up to 125 members, making us one of the biggest commercial fishing groups on Facebook!)

Anyway, members are welcome and encouraged to leave comments on our “Wall.” When I went to check in with our group a couple of days ago, the following message had just been posted:

Hi Everybody! I am casting a tv show for Country Music Television and we are looking for fishing families with teens. If you are/know anyone that would be a good fit please email me! WSPCASTINGPARENTS@GMAIL.COM Thanks!! Theresa

Now, if this is legitimate, it soundes incredibly exciting. At the moment, all of the fishing famlies I know have either babies and toddlers, or they are families I’ve known my whole life and the “kids” range in age from 25-60 years old!

If you happen to be in a fishing family, or know of a fishing family, with teenagers and you contact Theresa Horwitz at the above e-mail address regarding the television show, please let us know if it is the real deal or not!

And speaking of commercial fishing toddlers…we had a wonderful evening trick-or-treating with the family last Saturday night. If I’d known what a social event trick-or-treating with young children was in my town, I would have worn something nicer than sweats and tried to do something with my hair. Well, there’s always next year.

Eva was one head-to-toe decked out Tinkerbell, and she got countless compliments on her pink glitter gloves. At the last moment, Vincent refused to put on his dinosaur costume. We had two choices at that point: Toss a pillowcase over him and call him a ghost, or put him in his green raingear and call him a commercial fisherman. Of course, he chose the fisherman.

Vincent, Auntie Steph, and Eva.

Auntie Cass and Eva.

It’s a big weekend for our little family; not only is it Halloween and the kids will be trick-or-treating for the first time, but this is George’s last free weekend to relax before the crew shows up and the long, windy, stormy, crazy month of Dungeness crab gear work begins.

We have had the best time off together and my only complaints are that the time was too short and went by too fast! We spent today walking in the fall wind around our quaint section of town, visiting a local bookstore and the local running store. George also bought the Juicer he’s had his eye on, so I’m expecting one especially tasty cocktail tonight. Okay, who am I kidding? I’m expecting two tasty cocktails tonight!

After years of consideration, I’ve finally decided to give National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) a shot.

NaNoWriMo is not for the writing faint-of-heart. The task is to complete a novel (50,000 words) in one month. Writing begins at midnight November 1, and ends at midnight November 30. This year, organizers are expecting 150,000 participants worldwide! Check out the NaNoWriMo website if you’re interested in learning more.

I now have my NaNoWriMo participant page, joined my region for in-person write-ins, and connected with a writer friend across the country. Except for the fact that I have no idea how I plan to write 50,000 words of anything in one month, I’m ready to go!

For Halloween this year, Eva is going as Tinkerbell (she doesn’t even know who Tinkerbell is, but she saw the costume and thought it looked like a “pretty princess”) and Vincent is going as a dinosaur. For anyone keeping track: yes, Vincent went as a dinosaur last year as well. (Hey, the costume is really cute, he only wore it for about five minutes, and it still fits!)

Happy Halloween!

Upon finishing her pink-froggy plate of food tonight, my toddler said, “Good dinner, Jen.”

I’m not sure which I should be concerned about: the fact that my 3-year old daughter called me “Jen” with such ease, or the fact that she thought a Lean Cuisine herb roasted chicken qualified as a good dinner!

Ah, well. Daddy (the real chef) will be home on Monday!

The first reading for the brand new anthology, P.S. What I Didn’t Say: Unsent Letters to our Female Friends, was a great success.  I’m still thinking about what an incredible experience it was to finally meet fellow contributors Michelle Goodman, Anna Cox, and Jane Hodges, and the anthology’s editor, Megan McMorris.

Megan did an awesome job introducing the book to the audience gathered at one of the nation’s most famous independent bookstores. She also got up prior to each contributor to give a flattering and comprehensive introduction before we read.

The reading couldn’t have come at a better time for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting out of town with my family and meeting such accomplished and intelligent gals. I’ve participated in readings before, but this was one of the best. The energy in the store was positive and fun, if energy could be described as “fun”!  

I’m including the world’s tiniest picture of me reading. It’s not the best picture of me, which is (of course) why I’ve made it so tiny, but I thought it would be fun to share.

One thing I’ve been thinking about lately is how grateful I am to be surrounded by such a vast circle of amazing women. Cool chicks, I like to say. Sometimes it’s hard to work with groups of women, but not when they are as classy and confident as the ones I’ve been lucky enough to associate with.

I get (or have gotten) to work with editors and writers like Megan McMorris, Christina Katz, and Barbara Sjoholm. I also have cool writer girlfriends and an entire SCN women’s writing circle.

On the other side of the aisle, I have some wise Jazzercise associations.  I’ve been blessed by the amount of sound advice that has come my way from these gals, especially during some difficult situations of late.

These women are all strong, able to communicate, and smart.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Friday, Everyone!

This will be an exciting weekend. I was thrilled to discover yesterday that my two Contributor’s Copies of the book P.S. What I Didn’t Say: Unsent Letters to Our Female Friends had arrived in my mailbox!

I have (along with many, many other writers, editors, friends, and family) been eagerly awaiting the launch of this awesome anthology.

Upon opening the book, I was so pleased to see that everything was perfect:  name spellings, writer’s bio, and the story itself. I also love the layout and design of the anthology.

Now, I’m looking forward to two things. First, sitting down and reading all of the stories in the book. Second, participating in our first live reading at the famous Elliott Bay Bookstore.

On the heels of a pretty up-and-down week that could have kept me down, this is wonderful news and a perfect reminder not to let negative and hostile people steal your joy in life and activities. There are so many more cheerful, positive, and energetic people to deal with, and they mean the most.

Without further ado, here is an image of the recently launched anthology, P.S. What I Didn’t Say: Unsent Letters to Our Female Friends.

Well, this is interesting. It’s been almost two years since I started this blog, and I only just realized I had color options for font. This is good news. Now, I just wish I had options for the font itself.

There has not been much to report of late. We took our annual family vacation, which also included our wedding anniversary and my attendance at the Jazzercise Instructor District Meeting.

It has been three years exactly since I got certified to teach Jazzercise, and I’ve only grown to enjoy teaching more and more as the years have gone by.

This is not to say it has always gone perfectly; it most certainly has not. It is hard working with so many strong personalities, varying lifestyles and values, and management styles. I’ve been surprised on occasion how thoughtless people can be. I’ve also been appreciative of how understanding people can be.

Fortunately, none of these ups and downs has ever dampened my joy in teaching. I love the music, my JazzerFriends, and the customers I get to laugh and work out with every day.

I’m posting a picture from our vacation. This is George and our 2-year old son, Vincent.  When I look at this photograph and see the joy on my little boy’s face as he runs alongside his daddy, it warms my heart and makes me smile myself. 

 (p.s. I hope all the colors didn’t give you a headache reading this post )

I was thrilled when I discovered that my day to be the featured author for the about-to-be-released anthology had arrived!  The anthology, as you all know, is entitled:

P.S. What I Didn’t Say—Unsent Letters to Our Female Friends

Megan McMorris is the editor of the book. It has been an incredible experience watching and learning as she’s put her vast editing, writing, networking, marketing and countless other skills to work on this project. Each time I see press for the book or review its list of esteemed and award-winning writers, I am humbled and amazed to be included.

If you would like to read an excerpt from my story in the book, you can go here and scroll down until you see my name. Beneath my name is the excerpt from my story, True Blue, and my professional writer’s bio.

My “letter” is written to my best college friend, Wendy. I don’t think she has any idea that I’ve written a story about her and I’m deciding whether to mail her a copy. Won’t she be surprised!

If any of you have a letter you’d like to write to a female friend, you can write one and post it in the comments section of the official blog for the book. The first five gals to write in will receive autographed copies of the book when it is released! What a great opportunity. I can think of so many additional letters I could write. Letters of joy, love, hurt, misunderstanding, laughter, memories…give it a try. It’s fun!

I love writing, reading, and reading about writing. I am grateful for all of the editors who give–or have given–my work consideration and opportunity to be published. I’m a lucky writer gal.

Last night, George walked into the kitchen. “I have something to tell you that will be a bit upsetting,” he announced.

It’s never good when someone starts a conversation quite like that. Of course, my thoughts went immediately to the well-being of my family. I decided not to “go there” quite so quickly, though, and asked instead about the boat.

“Did somebody quit?” I asked.

“Something happened on Toby’s walk yesterday,” George said. “I didn’t want to tell you.”

I was alarmed at once, because saying that something happened to Toby is no small thing. Toby is our six-year old pitbull. He started out as our six-week-old foster pup (named “Baby” by the foster program due to his shy, under-confident, scared manner).

Toby has grown into a beautiful, gentle, mild pitbull who was suddenly diagnosed with cancer 18 months ago. He had to have surgery to remove his eye. During surgery, the doctor placed a glass eye inside Toby’s empty socket before sewing it shut. (Some of you may remember me blogging about this in March of 2008.)

“He got punched in the head during the walk,” George said.

Yes, you read correctly.

Our beautiful Toby (and his border collie-mix sister, Mandy) was on a normal walk on a pleasant trail in a nice section of town with his walker and our dear friend, Lisa, when a drunken and aggressive bum came out of nowhere and sucker-punched Toby in his face and screamed obscenities at Lisa. Toby literally did not see it coming.

Let’s just say that this loser better not have caused our Toby to lose ground in his cancer treatment (which is based in large part upon building his confidence and joy, not having it KNOCKED out of him) or instigated a relapse.

This will be the last time anyone messes with us, our kids, or our furry kids. George is making sure of that as we speak!

This past week has been filled with many things I’d consider my “favorite.” Of course, the safe return of the boat, captain, and crew from the SE Alaska salmon season qualifies as tops on the list. Here are some additional “things” from the past few days that I’m either grateful for or excited about…

• Our Facebook group, Commercial Fishing Families & Friends, already has 81 members (come and join if you haven’t already!);

• My efforts toward making George’s arrival from boat-to-home smooth and welcoming (after nearly a year of being at sea)  have so far gone as planned;

• The Indigo Girls CD “Poseidon and the Bitter Bug.” Specifically, the song “Fleet of Hope“;

• A sunny Saturday afternoon spent in Ballard eating a delicious lunch with the Schile cousins and cruising past the old haunts;

• Preparing interview questions for my forthcoming article in National Fisherman magazine;

• Making plans to participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) during the month of November.

Have a great Labor Day weekend, everyone!

Here is a small sampling of pictures from the Welcome Home party for the 2009 SE Alaska seine crew. Katie and I had a blast cleaning, preparing desserts, getting flowers and balloons, and putting together gift bags for Dad, George, Bryan, Brett, and Johnny.

It was no easy task while juggling five young children, but we did it.

One thing I appreciate about our crew is that we are like family. We can tease, bicker, laugh, love, forgive, and otherwise operate like any other family. I feel lucky every day that I am a part of such a first-class operation. 

I hope we all enjoy a nice break after an entire year of grinding away at three different seasons. Thanks to all the guys for working so hard to provide for their families. Your work is valued and appreciated by all.