Just Between Friends

Celebrity fascination...even in death

2009-07-01T04:38:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I've been fascinated the past week or so, not so much with the deaths of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, but with public and media reaction to them.

Obviously these are two iconic figures in popular culture, Jackson for his contributions to the music world, and Farrah, well, for her beauty as much as for her acting skills. But the amount of attention devoted to both pretty much astounds me.

Maybe that's because I've never really been any kind of a groupie..be it music, sports, TV or anything else. Don't get me wrong. I truly love baseball. I watch my Florida Marlins whenever I get the chance. I try to make it to at least one spring training game. I love tennis...especially Rafael Nadal. And I am absolutely crazy about a whole host of country music singers.

A few years back I was fascinated when a customer at my store who was visiting from Paris told me her daughter had played with Nadal in a pro-am charity event prior to the French Open. I practically grilled the girl, who was maybe 12. She looked at me curiously and inquired, "Aren't you married?" As if that would have anything to do with me being slightly ga-ga over the talented tennis pro. Still, I don't rush off to get a glimpse of him, even when he's playing right in my own backyard (so to speak) on Key Biscayne.

And though I am a huge fan of Trace Adkins, who has the ultimate bad boy glint in his eyes when he sings, I can't seem to muster up the energy to cross the river to see him when he performs this weekend in Maryland. I'm content to watch the videos on CMT and buy his CDs. Though if he did happen to cross the bridge in my direction, I can't swear that my reaction would be this nonchalant.

Obviously that's just me, because millions of people have poured to Encino, CA, to the Apollo Theater in New York and elsewhere to honor Michael Jackson. People have been glued to their TVs, grabbing up CDs and other memorabilia, all to somehow be a part of the mourning of the legend's passing.

The media has spent countless hours providing the very intimate details of his death, as well as Farrah's. Do we really need to know all this? Do we care that deeply? Or is this some other phenomenon, proof that even the most celebrated are mortal?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Just click on comments here or send me an email at Sherryl703@gmail.com.

Sherryl

A delicate balancing act

2009-06-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

I've written before about the difficulty of a generation trying to care for kids and their own families, right along with aging parents. Lately, though, I've been trying to balance the needs of an elderly aunt with her own desires. Believe me, when dealing with someone who possesses the stubborn Woods genes this isn't easy.

My 96-year-old aunt, who has no kids of her own, hit a rough patch over the winter. From Christmas day until early May she was in and out of hospitals and rehab. Some situations were better than others, but none were to her liking. My cousins and I have always promised we'd do all we could to keep her at home, as long as she cooperated by doing whatever was necessary for her own safety. In theory, she agreed.

Now, however, with reality setting in that she needs a live-in caregiver, she's not half as cooperative as we'd always hoped. I try to time my weekly visits -- she lives two hours away from me -- so I can chat with the visiting nurse or physical therapist to get some idea of what kind of progress she's making. Instead, most of the time I listen to a litany of complaints about how much she's paying for food for two people, instead of what she paid when she was living there alone. She wants to cut back care to a few hours a day...even though she's barely walking and certainly couldn't prepare her own meals. My cousins and I have repeatedly balked. It's created some tension. I suppose one of these days, she could simply fire the help, but we keep praying she won't.

On the one hand, I understand exactly how she feels. It must be incredibly difficult after living that many years independently to suddenly have someone else underfoot. On the other, it's frustrating to have her not see that for now she needs the help. It's been difficult for all of us, maybe more so because we're not dealing with a parent, but an aunt. It's even trickier for my cousins, who've recently dealt with the deaths of both parents after difficult illnesses. Their patience has worn thin.

If any of you out there have dealt with this with a parent or another elderly relative, I'd love to hear how you've dealt with the difficult decisions. Click on comments below or email me directly at Sherryl703@gmail.com.

Sherryl

The queen of clutter unmasked

2009-06-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

I just noticed how far behind I am on blogging. Apparently my blog resolutions are no better kept than my new year's resolutions. However, I do have a good excuse...another one. I'm decluttering. Sort of.

As some of you know, I inherited my house in Virginia when my dad died. It had been in the family since I was four. I'm pretty sure nothing had been thrown out in all that time.

After my dad died in 1998, I got started on the accumulation of stuff. Room by room, I made great progress. I've renovated and painted, tossed everything in sight that didn't have a purpose. The problem has been that way too many things might have a purpose...some day.

At any rate, I really was getting ahead of the chaos...until I closed my bookstore. Then every bit of leftover inventory that I hadn't given away or sold moved in with me. Boxes were everywhere. And then, crazy me, I got involved in creating the town's Market Days and kept ordering T-shirts to sell at those events. More and more boxes arrived. You have no idea what my living room looked like. Picture a dry goods store and you'll get a sense of it.

Now I'm gearing up to have one of the "big" birthday parties in July. I've invited friends from all over. Many are coming. Though I sensibly moved the actual event to a restaurant on the river, there's no getting around the fact that some of these people will actually expect to be able to walk through my house without tripping over things. So, I'm in a frenzy to declutter.

Unfortunately, I'm approaching this with very little organization. I pick a spot, grab some stuff and sort and toss. I'm pretty ruthless, in fact. However, I also have to look at every item, think about it, read the old letters, read the old college newspapers. This is not a process that is clipping along.

So, if any of you have tips for reducing clutter in an organized, sensible fashion, please pass it along. Quickly. In the meantime, picture me lost in the great black hole that is my home.

Sherryl

Mental meandering

2009-05-22T11:12:00.000-07:00

I just realized how ridiculously long it's been since I posted an entry on my blog. I have excuses, more of them than you need to hear. I'll mention a few.

First, of course, there was the book tour, which I told you a bit about before I hit the road. To cover just a few of the high (or low) points, depending on your point of view...a water main broke in downtown Baltimore and caused enough commotion that I somehow never made it on the air for my first TV interview. That was the first morning.

On the second day, the valet at the hotel brought my car in the pouring rain, then locked the keys inside...with the motor running! I was an hour late leaving the hotel and driving to Annapolis.

On the third day, the media escort got lost getting me to the TV station and I almost missed that interview, too. For a control freak like me, things were not off to a good start. Later that evening I was told that the bookstore hosting my signing had thought it was the next night. Hmmm.

And on day six, the bookstore hosting me hadn't received their order of books. Naturally that was the store where the most folks showed up. And here you all probably thought a book tour was glamorous.

The best part, of course, is having a chance to meet readers and that much was wonderful. If any of you stopped by my various signings, thank you. It means so much to an author to meet people face-to-face and talk books.

In the midst of that commotion, I stayed at the home of my 96-year-old aunt who was in rehab. We'd just learned that she'd be coming home any day and would require full-time care. So, while my cousins organized the care and medical equipment, I used every second of spare time to shop for new sheets and towels for the caregiver's room and stock the refrigerator with groceries. I've since made two additional trips to northern Virginia to check on my aunt and see for myself if she's making progress with her therapy.

In addition, I finished the manuscript for the second of the Sweet Magnolias books for next spring and turned that in. I'm now well into writing book three.

I finally have the furniture on the porch for the summer. This morning I planted the last of my containers with flowers, fertilized my vegetable garden, asked the landscaper to order some more perennials for my flower garden, and my car is loaded up with T-shirts and books for the first Market Day of the season on the town green tomorrow morning. I have to be there at 6:30 a.m. to help with registration.

Are you beginning to see why I haven't posted a blog? Still, no excuses. Other than trips to see my aunt, I should be staying put for the next six weeks or so. I promise to be back here on a more regular basis. In the meantime, if you have topics you'd like to discuss, click on comment below and add your two-cents to this post or send me an email at Sherryl703@gmail.com and I'll post it for you. Summer's here and I'd love to hear what you're planning.

Sherryl

Touring for FLOWERS ON MAIN

2009-04-27T03:25:00.000-07:00

I almost feel as if I haven't been out of my car lately. First, there was the drive from Florida to Virginia(in time to sniff my lilacs, in case you were wondering), then the drive to northern Virginia to spend some time with my 96-year-old aunt, and now I'm off on a tour for the Chesapeake Shores books....all within less than two weeks. If any of you reading this happen to live anywhere near my stops, I hope you'll drop by. I'd love to chat with you, assuming I can stay awake.

Today I head for Baltimore, Maryland to set settled in for a round of stock signings at various stores in the area. On Tuesday a.m., I'll be on the air on WBBF-TV,the local Fox station. In the afternoon (April 28, to be precise) I'll be at Greetings and Readings in the Hunt Valley Town Centre from 4 to 6 p.m. You can get more information by going to their website at www.greetingsandreadings.com.

On Wednesday, I'll be signing stock at Barnes & Noble and Borders in Annapolis. That means I won't be there long and won't have a specific time, but I'm trying to get to both stores before noon if you want to stop by and try to catch me.

On Thursday, April 30 there will be more stock signings in northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., plus an interview between noon and 1 p.m. on News Channel 8. That evening I'll be signing at 7:30 p.m. at the Borders at Baileys Crossroads, 5871 Crossroads Center Way...next door to Le Madeline, which has great pastries, by the way.

There will be more stock signings on Friday, so if you live in the D.C. - northern Virginia area, you may be able to find signed copies of FLOWERS ON MAIN or THE INN AT EAGLE POINT at many Borders (Friendship Heights), Barnes and Noble (Clarendon, Seven Corners, Bethesda) and Books-a-Million (Dupont Circle) locations this weekend.

And if you're in the Fredericksburg area, I'll be at the Borders at Central Park from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, May 2.

Do stop by. I'll be the one with the pen in hand and the glazed expression on my face!

Sherryl

Leaving summer, heading for spring

2009-04-14T11:41:00.000-07:00

Even if the calendar hadn't told me it was time for my annual trek north, I would have known it was time to go. First, the weather in Miami has been hitting record highs with nasty humidity, two of my least favorite things. And, second, today I wanted to mow down an entire pack of bicyclists who broke at least two traffic laws before dawn as I was heading out for breakfast.

Let's start with my desire to escape the onset of an early summer. My acceptable range of temperatures begins at about 45 degrees and goes to maybe 80, if the humidity is low enough. Miami has been above that for a while now. And on the flip side, Virginia's high by the time I get there at the end of the week, will be a wonderfully cool 65. You have no idea how happy that makes me. Even more important, from all reports, I will get there before the lilacs bloom, which is always my goal. I can practically smell them now.

Let's move on to the attack of the mad bicyclists. As I sat at a red light this morning with another car in the lane next to me, at least 40 frantic cyclists went racing by. . .to my left, to my right, and to the right of the other car. They didn't stop for the light. They were riding five, six, maybe even seven abreast. And when the light changed to green, the other car and I were surrounded by these insane individuals who apparently have absolutely no concept of the law, to say nothing of what could happen if we simply started driving.

This is not my first encounter with these folks. Just about every morning I watch as they speed through red lights, oblivious to traffic that might be approaching from the side streets. Some have lights on their bikes. Others don't. Some wear helmets. Others don't. Almost all of them have a really offensive air of entitlement when it comes to their ownership of the road. Of course, so do I, so maybe we're even on that score.

Why haven't they been arrested, you might ask. Heaven knows, I've asked it enough. Of course, I know why they weren't this morning. Two of the officers on duty were at 7-11 looking at magazines. Literally. I could have stopped, suggested maybe they should be patrolling the streets instead, but why bother? This wasn't an isolated incident. They've just chosen to ignore it. Or maybe they're terrified of these packs, which have actually been known to retailiate against those they don't think yield to them quickly enough. Oh, the tales I hear whenever this topic comes up around here!

At any rate, when I start ranting about the guys -- and some girls -- on their bikes, when other drivers really, really start to tick me off, it's definitely a sign of spring and time for me to head back to my small town in Virginia. Up there, partly in thanks to the heady scent of those lilacs, it will take me weeks at least before other stuff starts to make me nuts.

You'll hear more from me once I'm there. If you have time to check in, let me know what the best part of spring is for you. The flowers? Gardening again? Cutting the grass, which believe it or not, I can hardly wait to do? The warmer temperatures? Whatever it is, enjoy.

Sherryl

Searching for euphoria

2009-03-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

And no, I'm not talking about some city in the south. Euphoria is that state of well-being that comes during pleasant experiences. Or, they tell me, after a really good workout.

So, for the past couple of months I've been going to the gym. Don't faint or fall down laughing. It's the truth. I've been there diligently three times a week, two of those times with a trainer who doesn't let me get away with anything.

We use weight machines. We use free weights. We do exercises on a giant ball that I'm still terrified is going to squirt out from under me and land me on the floor with no way to get up without a crane. And we walk on the treadmill. Sometimes we do that for a five-minute warm-up. Sometimes we do it in intervals, between sessions with the weights. Whatever she can dream up to torture me.

Now I'm a big believer in getting things I hate over with in a big, fat hurry. That is not the way this works. We do things I hate for a while, then we stop and do other things I hate. Then just when I'm lulled into the serene sense that everything I hate is behind me, we do it all again. And again. Yes, that's three sets of everything, no matter how much I moan and groan. As I said, she's a very good trainer, who doesn't listen to me whine.

The gym in my condo is often empty, but on occasion there are other folks in there. A woman watched me working out one day and said, "That's looking too easy. You probably need heavier weights." I almost slugged her with my five-pound dumbbell, because the next thing I knew the trainer had handed me an eight-pound weight.

And there was the ever-helpful man who happily moved aside so I could use some kind of arm weight contraption, despite my silent pleas conveyed with desperate body language that he stay right where he was. "No pain, no gain," he said cheerily.

Then one day I think I found my soulmate, a man who looked utterly miserable as he sweated away on one machine after another. We commiserated. He told me his kids had promised him that there would come a time when all this expercise would make him feel euphoric. "All I want to feel is the couch under me," he said. Amen to that.

However, despite my grumbling, despite the fact that weight is clinging to me as if I had been sitting on the couch, I march down there every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday and spend a solid hour doing what I'm told...or, in the case of Sunday, what I think I can get away with since nobody's supervising. I've given up hoping for euphoria. I'll settle for survival.

If you've managed to find euphoria working out or running, please tell us about it. Those of us who haven't need the inspiration.

Sherryl Woods

Outlawing greed

2009-03-20T05:11:00.000-07:00

In the frenzy over the huge bonuses paid to AIG executives recently, Congress has jumped on the bandwagon without thought or care. As we once learned the hard way, it's virtually impossible to legislate morality...be it alcohol, sexual conduct or greed.

The outrage over the thousands and thousands of dollars being paid to men and presumably women in a division that may be largely responsible for the company's collapse is certainly understandable. To most people making a base salary in the low five figures or even higher, the sheer size of these bonuses is mind-boggling. To those who've lost jobs or fear losing their jobs, to think that anyone at a failing company now being supported by taxpayer dollars is receiving any kind of bonus seems ludicrous.

AIG executives may be tone deaf when it comes to hearing public perception of their actions, but Congress obviously is not. The new tax code provision which was written in haste to try to recoup the money is political grandstanding at its worst...and both parties are guilty of it. Laws written in haste are seldom effective and quite often wind up dragging through the courts before being tossed right back out.

Years ago, here in Miami, a group of activists tired of hearing so much of the community's business being conducted in Spanish, wrote and drove through an English-only ordinance. No one thought it through. No one considered the long-term ramifications. The goal was simply to immediately halt the erosion of English. As a result, however, the airport couldn't post signs in any language other than English. Imagine the chaos at an international airport. The hospital at which I worked wound up with return visits from many newborns, because the homecare instructions couldn't be written in the mother's native language, whether Spanish or Creole. As a practical matter, the law caused as many problems as it solved, because it wasn't written with due diligence.

I fear we're heading down that same path with the knee-jerk reaction on Capitol Hill. Perhaps if we and our Congressmen all took a deep breath and actually examined what happened, there's another far more rational way to accomplish the same goal. AIG's CEO, Edward Liddy, whose own compensation for trying to fix the mess created by others, is $1 per year (yes, $1.00) has already asked for and received commitments from some of the executives to simply return the money. What a novel concept! Hold an actual conversation and negotiate a solution! Amazing.

The most worrisome thing to me in all of this is the tone of some of those who've seen fit to email the company. Vocal outrage is one thing. Death threats are quite another. While it seems egregious that these executives received such huge sums of money from a taxpayer bailout, the reality is that they were entitled to it by contract. It wasn't handed out on a whim. I do think there should have been negotiations before those checks were ever written to try to negate the contracts, just as is happening in the auto industry, but I can't blame an individual for depositing a check that was written to them for an amount to which they were contractually entitled.

Someone should have sat them all down and said, "Here's where we stand. Public perception of this is going to be outrage. This is taxpayer money. We have to use it in an appropriate and meaningful way to save AIG. You need to defer or cancel any bonuses until we are on sound financial footing and the taxpayers have been paid back." Bring in the lawyers. Make it all nice and legal.

And keep Congress the heck out of it.

Sherryl Woods

How'd you get to be so tall?

2009-03-07T10:30:00.000-08:00

I have this problem with aging. Actually, I have quite a few problems with aging, but today I'll limit myself to the discussion of other people's kids who suddenly mature into adults when you're not looking.

Just this morning, I had breakfast with an old friend I hadn't seen since his dad's funeral several years ago. I was around when his son was born. By the time of the funeral, the son was definitely older, but I swear he was nowhere close to grown. Now I find that he's about to graduate from college in May and go into the marines. How'd that happen when I haven't aged a bit?

Several years ago, when my goddaughter hit 30, I was probably more traumatized than she was. In fact, I informed her that she and her husband were now considered to be my friends...and I had no idea who her parents were. This year her older sister hit 40. I'm still pretending that never happened...and that I can't possibly be a contemporary of her parents.

As my friends -- unlike me -- age, so do their children. Suddenly this child who's barely more than a toddler in my mind is an adult. Often he or she is married and expecting a child, who then starts to grow up too darn fast as well.

I can accept that this is the natural evolution of life, but it is extremely disconcerting to wake up one day after going merrily along imagining myself to be young, only to realize that I am not. It's like being in a soap opera where pre-schoolers are sent to bed and come back a year or two later as a teen. Only those TV parents don't seem to age any more than I do. Is that fair?

So here's my plan...those of us who are single need to ban together and rid ourselves of all these friends with children who have the audacity to grow up. I'll admit there's a bit of Peter Pan in this plan, but I write romance. I believe in the fantasy.

The only major hitch in my proposal is that I love kids. I just don't want to have to accept that the ones in my life are now the grandkids of my friends. If any of you have figured out a way to age without butting headlong into this reality, I'd surely love to hear from you.

Yours,
Sherryl, who's desperately clinging to her youth one fine line and wrinkle at a time

Lent as a diet plan

2009-02-26T06:19:00.000-08:00

Years ago, way back in college and before there was such a thing as the Atkins diet, I gave up carbs for Lent. If you believe the notion that what you give up during this season should be a real sacrifice, then for a college kid giving up pizza, fries and subs definitely qualified as a sacrifice and therefore met the true spirit of Lent. I lost 20 pounds and figured, at least in part, it was because I had God on my side.

Last year I made the same commitment to walk away from many of the foods I love for the forty days of Lent. I'd like to think that generally speaking I have more willpower as an adult than I did as a college kid and that maybe my relationship with God is as good or stronger. What I didn't count on was having a book hit stores right in the middle of Lent.

You may not know this about authors -- or at least this author -- but we fret over everything. We worry the books won't be on the shelves when they're supposed to be and that all of our carefully-timed publicity plans will be for naught. When they are on shelves, we worry that they're not selling fast enough. Those of us who are truly crazed -- and count me among them -- visit every bookstore, grocery store or anyplace books are shelved and for sale. You'd think after all these years and more than a hundred books I'd be over this. I'm not.

I'm also an information junkie. I want numbers. I watch bestseller lists. In other words, I make myself nuts, probably hauling my agent and editor slightly past the edge of sanity with me. Needless to say, there is never a time when I am more desperate for chocolate. In fact, during those days, there's not a carb on earth that's not my friend.

Despite my determination and whatever assistance God was doling out, I fell off the carb wagon about three weeks into Lent last year. Now I'm trying again. My next book -- THE INN AT EAGLE POINT -- will be in stores before Easter (on March 31, in fact), but I am hoping to be so ingrained into a non-carb lifestyle by then that it'll be second nature to me. I am also hoping that any of you who have made sacrifices for Lent will share your stories about what you've given up and how you've stuck to it. I need the inspiration.

In theory 40 days of sacrifice should be doable. It's a finite period of time, unlike those new year's resolutions that are supposed to last forever...or at least until December 31. So, help me out and tell me how you're doing. And if you happen to cross paths with me in a bookstore and I happen to be sitting in the cafe with a scone in front of me, you have my permission to snatch it away. Of course, it's probably best if you first make certain that it is me and not some total stranger who'll accuse you of theft or break your wrist. Having that on my conscience would drive me straight into a tub of ice cream.

Sherryl Woods

Apple of my eye

2009-02-21T04:51:00.000-08:00

Regular readers of this blog definitely know two things about me: I'm a stickler when it comes to customer service and I really, really do not adapt well to change. Those two things have successfully kept me from buying a desperately needed new computer for writing for over a year now. Every time I walked into a store, I was slammed by the reality that once I bought something new I'd actually have to learn how to use it. Add in the sales clerks who didn't seem capable of speaking plain "computer for dummies," and I was right back out the door.

However, last weekend both my email computer and my work computer -- don't even ask --started doing enough weird stuff that I decided I really needed to bite the bullet and go shopping. And since I already more or less knew what was out there in the Windows world, I decided to try an Apple Store for comparison. Oh, my!!!! To the astonishment of the brave friend who went with me, I actually left with a new system...and in a cheerful frame of mind...all in about an hour.

Now keep in mind that I haven't actually turned the computer on yet. I could be screaming my head off by this time next week, but I have survived the intimidation and annoyance phase of the process thanks to a store that actually knows how to treat its customers. Hallelujah!

From the moment I walked into the spacious, bright Apple Store at Aventura Mall in Miami, I knew I was in a new computer world. Greeted by what they referred to as a concierge, I was quickly introduced to a sales person who wanted to know exactly what I needed, then walked me through the process of using an Apple to accomplish that. Danny -- a saint in my book -- talked in plain English and never once implied that I wasn't the brightest bulb on the planet because I didn't have a clue about much of anything technical. Sure, he showed me applications I'll never in a million years need or use, but they were very cool. And for a minute there I honestly thought I could figure out how to use them.

He also pointed out their Genius Desk, which can problem-solve on-site. He told me the Apple tech consultants on the phone are here in the U.S. Both were very reassuring things for someone like me who may need a lot of help when I actually turn this new computer on.

And once I'd made my laptop selection, added in the wireless mouse and keyboard, one of the store managers -- Liz -- brought out the computer, introduced herself and told me to please call if there was anything at all I needed.

The entire experience was amazing, and a bit surreal compared to prior experiences in other stores. As a testament to the fact that this kind of customer service works, the store was packed on a weekday afternoon despite the state of the economy.

Sometime in the next week or so I will actually turn on the computer and install the word processing program and attempt to write something. I have high hopes. But even if something goes awry and I can't figure out what I'm doing, not only do I have other staunch Apple converts among my friends, but Apple geniuses besides! Oh happy day!

Carousels and me

2009-02-11T05:09:00.000-08:00

Way back when, I can remember going to Glen Echo, an amusement park in the Washington, DC area. One of the joys of that park was a magnificent old carousel. As you rode it, you could reach out and try to capture a brass ring. I'm sure it could be turned in for a free ride or prizes or some such, but the thrill of actually getting one was enough for me.

During those same years, in my summer hometown of Colonial Beach, Virginia, we also had a carousel on the boardwalk that was the centerpiece of a small area of rides. A small train wound over the grounds along the riverfront as well. There were a few other rides, but those were the two that were most memorable.

Just the sound of the organ-based music takes me straight back to those early years, which was just one reason that a few years ago, I fought so hard to keep the Colonial Beach boardwalk area from being turned into condos. We won that particular battle, though it will be ongoing until someone with foresight actually comes up with a plan to revitalize the area with the kind of nostalgic, family-oriented development that I remember from my childhood.

I was reminded of all this with the publication of my Trinity Harbor trilogy, and most especially of the middle book -- ASK ANYONE -- which pays homage to that old boardwalk and to antique carousels in particular.

Today I had an email from a reader who actually works in a park which has its own Allen Herschel antique carousel similar to the one in my story. I was totally envious, and also thankful that the people in her community and state had the vision to preserve such a treasure and make it available to the public.

I know there are others around the country. If there's a carousel that's been preserved near you, I'd love for you to share the information with us. Tell us where it is. Share your memories of riding on it. Just as important, take your kids to ride on it and let them discover the magic of riding on one of the majestic animals, listening to that distinctive music . . . and reaching for the brass ring.

What's in a name?

2009-02-03T07:50:00.000-08:00

Quite a lot, at least when you're referring to the title of a book. It needs to be memorable. It needs to catch a reader's eye. It should summarize the story, or at least provide a hint. It should also be decided on before the book is actually in print.

Okay, that last part is made only slightly in jest. Coming up with book titles is an art form that I used to think I understood. Creatively, I like to know that title before I actually put the first word of the story down on paper. Sometimes, it doesn't happen that way.

Oh, I come up with a title. Sometimes, as with last year's NOBODY'S SECOND BEST, it even appears with a teaser excerpt in one of my books in advance of publication. Then comes the word that there will be a change. That's why none of you could find NOBODY'S SECOND BEST in stores last fall. It became WELCOME TO SERENITY.

And now it's happening again. I've been telling many of you about the next Sweet Magnolias book, scheduled for early 2010. This is the much-anticipated story of Ty and Annie. Many of you may have jotted it down on your calendars. Well, get out your erasers. Not only is it no longer to be called BEST FRIENDS...FOREVER, it will be released in March 2010, not February.

Of course, there is good news. It will be the first of a new series of three Sweet Magnolias books, which will be published in March, April and May 2010. I don't have firm titles for any of them. Come to think of it, I don't have plots for books two and three beyond knowing that they'll be about Annie's friends Sarah and Raylene from A SLICE OF HEAVEN, but I will have stories for them very, very shortly. Probably before they have firm titles.

Just a little heads-up from me to you, so you won't drive yourselves nuts next winter looking for a book that's no longer called what I told you it was going to be called. Personally I think this is a little test the publisher has to see if I'm actually learning to be more flexible. How am I doing?

Sherryl Woods

Bargain hunting...in all the wrong places

2009-01-24T05:26:00.000-08:00

I come from a family of bargain shoppers. Years ago my dad would drive my mother nuts by going across town for a cheaper tube of toothpaste, passing a half a dozen drug stores en route. His siblings were even worse. After retirement, they'd hit the mall on an almost daily basis, first having lunch, then keeping an eagle-eyed watch on the sales racks until something they wanted finally hit a price they found acceptable.

I have to tell you, this particular gene apparently skipped right over me. Not that I don't love a good sale, but if I need toothpaste, I'm going to buy the brand I like in the store I'm already in. If I find the perfect blouse and it's not yet on sale, it's still mine!

A couple of days ago, while in Ft. Myers to give a speech before a wonderful group, the Friends of the South County Regional Library, I was chatting with one of their members about bargains. David Hauenstein, who writes their newsletter, and I were talking about when a bargain's not really a bargain at all.

For instance, I had customers at my bookstore who would mention to me a particular book they were reading. I always knew when they hadn't bought it from me. They'd driven 45 miles to the big discount store to get it for 40% off the cover price. Not that they wanted to admit that. What they never seemed to calculate was that in my store bestsellers were 20% off, frequent readers got an additional 10% off and accumulated points toward actual dollars off future purchases. So for the 10% or so they saved by buying the book elsewhere, they had to pay for gas for that 90-mile round trip. By my calculations, even at the price of gas back then, they weren't saving much, if anything.

After my return from Ft. Myers I was talking to another friend about outlet malls. She'd just gone on a wild shopping spree and come home with bags of bargains...blouses for a couple of bucks and who knows what else. She'd managed to find the super sales within the discounts. Now, once you find a blouse for $2, chances are you're really saving some money, but I've often been told that unless you're a real shopper and know the prices of certain labels, you may not be saving as much as you think you are.

These days, folks aren't buying much unless it's on sale. Unfortunately, I'm not entirely convinced that all bargains are created equal. I recall a major department store listing an item in one of its ads at 40% off before the holidays a few years back. That SALE price was higher than the regular price I had on the exact same item in my store.

I guess what it all boils down to is how much you like to shop, how savvy you are about it and whether the thrill of the hunt balances out the time expended.

Given the state of our current economy, what does it take these days to get you to buy something? A huge discount? Necessity only? A special occasion? I'd love to know.

Sherryl Woods

The high cost of modern gadgets

2009-01-16T06:46:00.000-08:00

I think I've actually come up with an insight into why consumers have managed to get themselves into such financial trouble. Forget just taking out unrealistic mortgages, paying the high cost of college tuition or buying an expensive car. We've apparently become obsessed with gadgets. These are the little items, often advertised on TV, and intended to make our lives ridiculously easy.

The first time this notion occured to me, I was watching a commercial for some kind of pancake maker that would assure that all your pancakes were perfectly round. I believe it also flipped over for perfectly even browning. Now why anyone needs to spend money to accomplish this is beyond me. When I spoon batter onto a flat griddle pan, guess what? The pancakes are round. And when I flip them with a spatula, the other side gets brown, too. Amazing, huh?

Ditto special grills for making grilled cheese sandwiches. Paninis, of course, are trendy. Whole restaurants (even in my books) are devoted to them, but let's remember, they can be made just as efficiently on a griddle pan. Two pieces of buttered bread, cheese, ham or whatever in the middle and voila, something that tastes pretty similar to any panini I've ever had. Keep in mind, our ancestors were making grilled cheese sandwiches long before anyone invented a panini press. And if they wanted them to look a bit fancier, they put them in the waffle iron.

Then, just the other day, came the special egg cracker, which will crack your raw egg without any mess, help you to crack and peel your hard-boiled eggs AND separate eggs for cooking. Assuming it works as shown, I suppose it can cut down on a certain amount of mess. However, in tight economic times, what's wrong with cracking those eggs the old-fashioned way?

That, of course, is the real argument against all these modern conveniences: the cost, especially when there are simpler, cheaper ways to accomplish the same thing. I guarantee you, though, that some of these things are probably selling like, well, hot cakes. Plus the cost of shipping and handling, of course.

There are tons of other gadgets out there and people are obviously buying them or they wouldn't be airing expensive commercials to sell them.

Keep in mind, as you read this, that I still have dial-up internet service and have yet to make significant inroads into discovering the many talents of my cellphone. Guess I'm just an old-fashioned girl...or a cheapskate. Of course, there is this one handy little tool for dealing with grout that I do have my eye on!

Sherryl Woods

Customer service? What's that?

2009-01-08T05:12:00.000-08:00

Remember way back when the philosophy of any business -- at least any that wanted to stay in business -- was that the customer is always right? Boy oh boy, are those days gone! And sadly, these are exactly the times that call for improved customer service, when every single customer really counts and can potentially make the difference between keeping the doors open and bankruptcy. Wouldn't you think someone would have mentioned that to store managers? Apparently not.

Yesterday I made a trek to a store, which shall remain nameless mainly because this could have happened in any store, and all stores should take note. I had a list, which is rare enough for me. After accumulating all but two things on my list, I headed for check out. There were maybe four lines open, so I got behind a young couple in one of them and waited to begin putting my items on the conveyor.

As the clerk finished up with the couple, I started unloading my cart. The clerk turned off her register and announced she was leaving. For about ten seconds I just stared at her, then announced that I was leaving, too, and walked out leaving probably $50-75 worth of merchandise sitting there...some on the conveyor belt, some in the cart.

Now that's not a huge sale. It may not hurt their bottom line. But it also will cost employee time to restock all those items. And, the part the manager may never know about is that I am now planning to sell my stock in that particular company, because I have had one too many similar experiences in that exact same store. Ironically just the day before I had told my broker not to sell, despite their recommendation. Today, I've changed my mind. That's why customer service to each and every person who walks through the door is critical. The clerk and manager can't possibly know the ripple effect that one careless action may have.

It's not that I'll sell my stock and the next person might not own stock. That next customer may have friends who shop there and will spread the word about how they were treated. Pretty soon not just one, but dozens of people stop coming. And management at the national level will start wondering why same store sales are declining in that location. In these tough economic times, there's not a store of any kind that can afford to lose even one customer, especially one who spends as much as I do there over the course of a year.

So, take heed. As a customer, don't just grin and bear it when service is rude or non-existent. Take your business elsewhere. There are plenty of other places to buy almost everything, places where the managers and clerks know that without you their jobs are on the line, places where you will be treated with courtesy and respect.

Managers, you need to take heed as well. Corporate culture starts with you. If you insist on good customer service, that message will filter down and be carried out. Jobs these days are too scarce and good people who need them too plentiful to tolerate anything less than outstanding treatment of every customer who walks in the door.

My very favorite customer service story happened years ago to a friend of mine who was shopping for shoes at Nordstrom. I'd been waiting for her in the mall and decided to wander inside, where I found her walking around in the shoe department while frantic employees hunted for her shoe. She'd taken it off to try on a sample shoe and some zealous employee had dutifully picked it up and taken it . . . somewhere. It couldn't be found. The manager arrived in the midst of the hunt, was told the situation, and said without hesitation, "Give her a pair of shoes." Now that is good customer service. Nordstrom is known for it. Every other store should be as well. As a postscript to that story, my friend's shoe was finally found later that night and returned the next day. She got to keep the new shoes!

Sherryl Woods

Happy, uncluttered new year!

2009-01-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

My name is Sherryl and I'm addicted to clutter! There, I've admitted it, in public, for anyone out there to see. I don't want to have piles of stuff sitting on most available surfaces in my house, but on the days when I really take a good long look around me, what I see is clutter.

Keep in mind, I come by this addiction naturally. My dad kept just about everything, in piles, on every available surface. It's taken me most of the ten years since his death to work my way through even some of those piles. I used to refer to his room as "the great black hole." I swear, things went in there never to be seen again. Sadly, though I joked about that with him, I've discovered some of his traits are in my DNA. I occasionally walk into my room in Virginia, look around and moan, "Oh, sweet heaven, I am exactly like my father."

So today, on January 1, 2009, I am decluttering. Really. Not that many hours into the new year, I have worked my way through one pile of papers. I've paid bills, written notes, tossed papers I will never need. I've shredded stuff, put away Christmas decorations, cleaned out the refrigerator -- that's a whole other issue -- and taken a drawer from a bathroom cabinet to my car to be tossed into a dumpster. That makes two drawers now in the trunk of a car. I hope I remember, so it doesn't become yet another refuge for my clutter. I have two more drawers to toss, but first I have to get rid of the accumulated cosmetics, most of which are old enough to pose a danger to anyone daring to use them. I currently have these junk drawers in the middle of the floor, because over the summer I had both of my bathrooms renovated and this is where the contractor left the old stuff. It is also where I left it when I arrived in Florida and immediately went into a deadline frenzy...and then straight into another one.

Today, however, I have a break and a renewed determination to start the new year by tossing things. Hauling bags to the trash room fills me with a sense of accomplishment. Hopefully this enthusiasm will last long enough to make a real dent in the clutter, but I have my doubts. After all, come Monday, I am going back on deadline to finish the next book and turn it in. I'll be listening to the whispers of characters, not the shouts of my conscience. And, as we all know too well, clutter multiplies when we're not looking. Surfaces disappear. Papers vanish into piles. And the process starts all over again.

Happy new year! Whatever your resolutions, whatever your best intentions, I hope they last. But if they don't, console yourself that you're just like the rest of us.

Sherryl Woods

In search of holiday cheer

2008-12-16T11:42:00.000-08:00

Christmas, in case you haven't noticed, is not far away. Depending on your bah-humbug level, that's either great news, or very, very bad. For those of you on the side of crawling into bed until it's all over, I'm here to perk you up. You can control and even beat those bah-humbug tendencies.

Now as much as I'd love to believe that those of you who stop by this blog, also stop by my website and by the new www.welcometoserenitybook.com site, it may not be so. If you haven't been there yet, I encourage you to stop by, if only to click on the serene thoughts section and look for my 7 Tips to Avoid the Holiday Blues. I'm not going to reinvent that list here; it's all spelled out in the article I wrote for that site. I am here to tell you that the ideas work. Believe me, I've done most of them at one time or another.

Not that I'm a Christmas Scrooge. This is my very favorite time of the year. But I will admit that living far from family can be a downer, especially once I've done all my gift shopping, wrapping and shipping and the cards are on their way. So I turn to some of the suggestions on the list to keep my spirits high.

For instance, I've organized three gatherings over the next few days. Only one involves cooking on my part -- thank goodness for all concerned. I've shopped for children's books and toys and dropped them off for Toys for Tots. And I'm trying out some new cookie recipes just to fill the house with the scent of sugar and cinnamon and chocolate. I've found designated recipients, so all those calories don't wind up in me.

And though the thought of hauling out my tree in the midst of a deadline does not hold a lot of appeal, I am digging in boxes for some of my favorite Santas from my collection and other items that will make this place festive, but not add to my stress level. Think about it, one treasured decoration placed where you can see it, will sometimes do the trick. Of course, I love all the holiday lights, so I intend to roam around to every tree I can spot and pretend it's mine. I've pretty much adopted the massive tree on the Village Green as my own personal marker of good cheer. Let the community think it belongs to them. I know better.

There are so many ways to keep the spirit of the season alive. I'd love to have you share some of yours, either here by clicking on comments, or at www.welcometoserenitybook.com.

Meantime, my very best wishes to all of you for the merriest holiday season ever and a new year filled with blessings.

Sherryl

Cell phones...a love-hate relationship

2008-12-12T11:50:00.000-08:00

Okay, it may be uncool to admit, but I am not a cell phone person. Just the other day, as I was waiting for my friend, author Heather Graham, to meet me for lunch, I reluctantly hauled mine out of my purse and called to check on her. I got her voice mail and told her I'd be waiting inside the restaurant. Fifteen or so minutes later, a very frantic Heather came tearing into the restaurant and informed me that a cell phone does no good, if I don't answer it.

For once I was actually puzzled. I had, in fact, left it on...something I almost never do. I made her call me. From inside my fairly small purse came a barely discernible ring, something I wouldn't have heard if I hadn't had the purse right up by my ear. She rested her case and I vowed to fix my ring-tone...sometime. It hasn't happened yet, mostly because I don't know how...or care.

Now I do believe a cell phone is great for keeping in touch with kids or in an emergency, but that's it. Very few of us are so important that we can't be out of touch for the length of time it takes to drive somewhere. Nor are we so amazingly popular that we must chat with all our friends while in a restaurant. And hopefully we're not so bored with our own company that we must call someone to fill in every spare second left in our day. At least that's what I'd like to believe. Reality suggests something else.

For instance, and I hate to say it but these are most often women, there are those who exit a store, climb into their giant SUVs, start talking on their cells and then try to back out of a parking space. The concept of hands-free cells apparently hasn't been mandated by law down here in Florida, or if it has, no one is familiar with the law. These people can barely handle the car on a good day, much less while talking on their phones.

Then there are the oblivious, so intent on their conversations, that they're completely unaware of anything. Just the other day -- this time it was a man -- pulled into the middle of the narrow driveway of a shopping center parking lot and then made a phone call so no one could exit or enter while he chatted. To the credit of those of us waiting, no one actually hit a horn. Then, again, I did say a few very bad words.

Or how about the man standing in a pizza shop holding up a line while he chatted into his hands-free cell, rather than actually placing his order. This guy was incapable of multi-tasking. And he paced while he talked. It was quite an adventure for those closest to him.

And none of this gets into how I feel about teens and texting, especially while driving.

So, you might ask, where's the love? I like the security when I'm on the road. That's it. Oh, and I wouldn't mind a phone that could find a restaurant, automatically dial and make reservations, answer email. Then, again, I'd probably never figure out how to do any of those things. I guess I'll be stuck in the Dark Ages for a while longer. In the meantime, I hope some of the cell-phone addicted can get some immediate help.

Sherryl Woods

The end of civilization

2008-11-30T06:37:00.000-08:00

Over the past few days when we were all supposed to be counting our blessings, I was sitting here wondering if perhaps the civilized world as we know it isn't on its last legs.

The first warning sign came a couple of weeks ago when a teenage girl here in South Florida shot and killed a classmate, reportedly because her friend rejected her advances for a more romantic relationship. The background to the story is complex and sadly, two young lives are over. One girl is dead, the other lost to the court system.

Last week the news was even more shocking. A troubled 19-year-old young man, again here in South Florida, committed suicide in front of a webcam, while over 100 people watched online and did nothing. More horrifying was that some of them reportedly were egging him on as he took the overdose of pills that killed him. By the time someone came to their senses and actually made a call for help, it was too late. He was dead.

And then, just last Friday, a mob of shoppers trampled a store employee to death...so they could get to the bargains. In another store one shopper shot another, apparently over a toy.

What on earth are we coming to as a society? I suppose, going back to man versus lion in ancient Rome, there's a history of blood lust and mob mentality, but I thought the world had improved a bit since then. Apparently not.

So, what is our duty and obligation in this new world? Surely we're supposed to get involved when someone is clearly troubled, when someone is clearly engaged in an act that can harm themselves or others. Can't we at least make that critical phone call to the police that could save a life? Can't we use some common sense and courtesy when we're at a store sale, for goodness sakes?

On Black Friday, I was chatting with another shopper as we were being waited on in a quiet mall that wasn't mobbed with frantic bargain hunters. She'd been to one store where lines were insanely long, but everyone there had been courteous and pleasant. She'd followed that with a stop at another store where people had been so rude, she'd turned right around and left. Even in these difficult economic times, no sale price is so amazing that it's worth risking a brawl, much less trampling over an innocent person. How have we forgotten that?

And how have we forgotten that human life is something of value, that ending a life is a tragedy, not entertainment?

Sherryl Woods

Serenity in Times Square? Come on...

2008-11-13T14:33:00.000-08:00

When I think of peaceful and serene, New York's Times Square is not the first place that pops to mind. Which may be why seeing a lighted billboard right there, in one of the busiest places in the country, featuring the new Welcome to Serenity website almost knocked me out of my chair. Finally, after years and years of staring up at all those amazing Times Square ads for plays, I'm actually in lights on Broadway! This is very, very cool.

Okay, it's not really me, but the fabulous website created by Jeanne Devlin at Nancy Berland Public Relations and Cissy Hartley of Writerspace. I've been telling you for a while now about http://www.welcometoserenitybook.com/, the companion website to my new holiday novel in the Sweet Magnolia series. It is jam-packed with recipes, nifty gift ideas, holiday traditions and decor, and even some serene thoughts to keep in mind as you head for the mall.

The image from Times Square, ironically, came in an email as I was in the midst of planning my own holiday trip to New York. This afternoon I felt a sudden need to visit all the sparkle and chaos that is New York at Christmas. Now I know why this impulse struck me. It was pure holiday magic.

Over the years I've seen a lot of things in Times Square, from the (almost) naked singing cowboy to a pretty impressive fire, from David Blayne doing one of his bizarre magic acts to human gridlock while trying to cross Broadway. And none of this involved being there for New Year's eve, which may be the craziest time of the year ever in this world-famous section of the city.

I doubt the Welcome to Serenity sign will pop up if I actually make it to New York, but seeing the picture is pretty amazing. I'm not sure if what they say about New York holds true for websites -- "if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere" -- but by gosh it's still pretty darn exciting.

Meantime, I hope you'll head on over to the new website and browse through all the ideas we collected for the holidays. Share your own tips and traditions while you're there.

Meantime, happy -- and serene -- holidays, everyone!

Sherryl Woods

From pumpkins to Santa in 10 seconds flat

2008-10-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

The holiday season has now been officially compressed into approximately ten seconds and I, for one, am nowhere near ready. I did buy a Christmas gift when visiting a winery in Ohio back in August. One gift, a stocking stuffer really. That's it. I have a long, long way to go. I suspect many of you are in the same boat.

This year, though, thanks to a bunch of elves who work with my friend and publicist Nancy Berland in Oklahoma, we're going to help you find a little serenity during the holidays. Really.

In just a few days you will be able to go to www.sherrylwoods.com or to www.welcometoserenitybook.com and find everything from recipes for your favorite Thanksgiving comfort foods to a drink with some kick for the new year. There will be decorating tips, positive ways to beat the holiday blues
and best of all for those of us who haven't made even a dent in our shopping, there will be gift ideas. Lots and lots of gift ideas. Sadly, there will be no personal shopper assigned to you to actually get that shopping done, but we have taken a lot of the stress out of the hunt for the perfect presents for even your hard-to-please family members. A lot of these ideas are available online, so you'll be able to shop in your PJs with a cup of hot chocolate close by.

And if you find better sites or more wonderful gifts, I hope you'll share them with us. Tell us all about your favorite traditions, too, by clicking on comments below. Share your tips for beating the holiday rush at the mall, for finding the best deal, for explaining to the kids why Santa's sack might be a little less jam-packed this year.

Just stop by here whenever you have a minute to spare, share your holiday frustrations, your joyous moments when the perfect gift appears like magic. Because the one thing that's just as good as finding a little serenity during this harried time of year is sharing it with a friend.

And I hope when you have more than a couple of minutes to spare, you'll sit down with the latest book in the Sweet Magnolias series, WELCOME TO SERENITY, which will be in stores by Tuesday, November 25. Library Journal calls it "a story that sparkles with holiday fun," so it may be just the thing after a tough day at the mall...or in the parking lot.

Sherryl Woods

Do a little dance...

2008-10-22T11:09:00.000-07:00

I think I've been way too serious lately, so I'm going to take a moment to talk about something that probably matters only to me and a few millions others: who's going to win on Dancing With the Stars.

You see, I had a breakthrough moment while watching Monday night's show. Until that instant I hadn't been able to figure out why I wasn't avidly in favor of any particular couple. And then football great Warren Sapp came on the floor and I knew. Only he and a handful of others were actually cutting loose and having fun. Even Cloris Leachman, who --let's admit it -- isn't the best dancer, has hung around because she's so obviously having a ball on the dance floor. I was so excited -- about my insight as much as Warren Sapp's performance -- that I immediately picked up the phone and voted for him several times.

Since I'm being insightful, I also have a theory about why this show is watched by millions of viewers each week. I think it has something to do with those of us who have two left feet and wish we were as graceful and agile on a dance floor as the pros on this show. I used to volunteer with Miami City Ballet for the same reason. Just watching the dancers made me feel graceful. Which I'm not. Or maybe I thought I'd become graceful. Which I never did.

So we tune in on Monday night to watch celebrities who aren't trained dancers suddenly glide around the floor and we believe with a little time and effort -- and the help of a really sexy professional dancer -- we, too, would be able to dance. The show is selling the fantasy, just the way romance novels do. But what really makes it work is seeing a guy like Warren Sapp -- or Emmitt Smith or Jerry Rice or Helio (whose last name I can't remember or pronounce) -- leave their comfort zone on the football field or racetrack and get down with the music. And when they do, it makes it doubly disappointing when someone with a musical background such as Susan Lucci, Toni Braxton or Lance Bass performs in a self-conscious way.

To be honest, at this point I have no idea who's likely to win this season and so far, I don't really care. I do know, though, that it's likely to be someone who's having fun on the dance floor, someone who feeds my fantasy that I can do it, too.
So, come on, contestants, get with it. Get out there and dance. Stir up the competition. Have some fun. Make us care.

Otherwise, the party might very well be over for this series.

Do you have a favorite couple on Dancing With the Stars this season? Do you think maybe the judges have been so tough on the celebrities in the past that it's getting harder for the producers to lure them onto the show? Do you even care about any of this? Click on comments below and chime in.

Sherryl Woods

Toning down the trash talk

2008-10-12T07:19:00.000-07:00

Generally speaking when people are engaged in public trash talk, it's on a football field or basketball court. These days it has spilled over into our national election and, frankly, I'm sick to death of it.

It's one thing for the candidates for any office, and most especially for president of the United States, to disagree, sometimes vehemently, with an opponent on the issues. If everyone agreed with everyone else on every strategy for the country, there'd be no need for an election. What I'm fed up with is the trash talk that goes beyond character and straight to character assassination. These are the nasty innuendoes and outright lies tossed around by a candidate designed to whip the public into a frenzy and feed into their worst fears. You know exactly the ones I mean:

* The deliberate use at too many rallies of Barack Obama's middle name -- Hussein -- not as a simple fact, but strictly because it raises the sceptre of Iraq's Saddam Hussein and encourages all the biases that go along with it.

* Tossing out Obama's "relationship" with a '60s protestor and deliberately describing the man as a terrorist, because it stirs all those fears that lie deep in our hearts since September 11. Now if Barack Obama and this man had been conducting protests, bombings or anything else side by side in the '60s, this would certainly be a legitimate character issue. The truth, however, is that Obama was only eight back then, and in the years since Obama has been acquainted with this man, he is a respected college professor and part of the Chicago political establishment.

Apparently this week even Senator John McCain realized that perhaps he was feeding the hysteria of misconceptions. A decent man by all reports, he belatedly tried to quell the outrageous rhetoric at his rallies...and was booed by his own supporters. Frankly, this scares the living daylights out of me.

It is way past time to tone down this kind of trash talk and stick to the issues that matter to everyone of us who live on Main Street, who have dwindling savings thanks to the financial crisis, who are scared about our jobs, who are dealing with aging parents who need prescriptions and kids who're ready for college.

We need leaders who understand that any candidate running for the highest office in the land should be treated respectfully and with dignity. One of them will be in office in November and it is the duty of the other one to make the rest of us be at peace with that. Fostering fear and hatred isn't the way to unite a country. It's the lowest way to lead us down a very slippery slope.

Stick to the facts. Discuss your plans. Give us hope. Is that so complicated for a politician to grasp?

Sherryl Woods

It's a family tradition!

2008-10-04T04:33:00.000-07:00

Just last night I was thinking about traditions, though not exactly in the, well, traditional sense. I was joking with a neighbor who was vacationing in North Carolina's Outer Banks. She'd called from the parking lot at Wal-Mart, where her husband was shopping...as he does every single Friday evening on his way home from work. I told her to tell him I was glad he was sticking with tradition, even far from home.

Perhaps his tradition is really little more than habit, but it is a reminder that we are rapidly approaching a season in which family traditions are a big deal. From Halloween through the New Year, I suspect all of us do things we started in childhood and have continued with our own families.

In my neighborhood here, for instance, the Halloween decorations are already up. Yards are filled with pumpkins -- real and plastic. Bats hang from trees. Giant spiders spin huge webs. For someone whose family never went overboard for this particular holiday, it's rather amazing to see half the town transformed into some sort of haunted community. And it's all a bit like the town of Serenity in my Sweet Magnolias series.

Serenity is a town which loves its holidays, which makes the Christmas festivities the perfect theme for WELCOME TO SERENITY, which hits stores around Thanksgiving.

Because of that I'm launching a new website just for the holidays. You'll be able to link to it from my website, www.sherrylwoods.com, and there will be more information on this site as well as soon as it goes online at the beginning of November. The focus will be on finding serenity during the holidays. It will be filled with easy and inexpensive decorating tips, gift ideas and websites, and tons of recipes. There's even a list of ideas for chasing away the holiday blues.

I'm also hoping all of you will share your favorite holiday traditions and recipes with us, as well. Since it won't kick off until around November 1, you can get started now by sharing your Halloween traditions right here. Do you gather all the neighborhood kids and bob for apples? Is there a neighborhood costume party? Are there traditions that you no longer do because of safety concerns...popcorn balls or candy apples for trick or treat, for instance? Click on comments below and share your favorite ideas that put you into the Halloween spirit.

And start thinking about those favorite things that make all of the upcoming holidays special for your family. I want to hear about the decoration you made for your mom when you were in kindergarten, the one that always hangs front and center on the tree. I want to hear about caroling excursions or Aunt Jane's fruit cake. Tell us about the first turkey you roasted or the rolls that somehow never make it into the oven on Thanksgiving. Sharing your favorite memories may spark traditions for the rest of us...or make us chuckle...or shed a tear.

There's a reason we cling to traditions. And now there's a place to share them. I really hope to hear from you.

Sherryl Woods