Blond Moments & the Bygone Story That Came Back To Haunt Me

Question: Can a blond person blame her idiotic behavior on being blond if the blond came out of a bottle?

Sometimes I think I'm losing it. Truly. A few days ago, I dropped by a jewelry doctor to have a necklace repaired. I had broken the tiny clasp...or so I thought. In two seconds flat, the jeweler informed me it wasn't broken, that it had just become unhooked from the opposite side.

HOW I MEANT TO RESPOND: "I'm so BLIND I can't see the clasp without my reading glasses."

HOW I RESPONDED: "I'm so BLOND I can't see the clasp without my reading glasses."

Well, the guy cracked up and I managed to see the humor in it, too. Then things got worse. I asked if he had ring guards. Let me back up. When I married, my husband bought me a beautiful, simple band. Many years later, he bought me a ring with a larger diamond in the center and two smaller ones on either side of it. I wear it with the band, but the diamond ring is always sliding around to the back of my finger. I thought a pretty guard would hold it in place, but this store didn't have any I liked. So I asked the jeweler if he could attach the diamond ring to the band. He said yes, and I proceeded to show him which ring I wanted on top and which on bottom. The minute the instructions were out of my mouth, I realized that it didn't matter -- neither ring had an "upside down." The jeweler's brow arched, his mouth twitched. "I just said something blond again, didn't I?" I asked. He couldn't stop laughing as he wrote up my receipt.

A funny thing happened on the way to our cabin last week. Before we drove into the mountains and past the point where I have cell service, I decided to check my voice mail. To my surprise, I had a message from a confession magazine editor telling me she wanted to buy my story (insert very suggestive title here.) What? I never wrote any such story.! I called and told her so. She put me on hold, and when she came back on, she read my name, address and the titles of four stories I'd sent her as a "package." She wanted to buy only one of them. The one called (insert very suggestive title here). A buried memory began to dig its way up from the bottom of my brain. My friend Ronda and I years ago...writing novels...suffering rejection after rejection...hearing about other aspiring novelists making a little extra cash by selling stories to the confession magazines...coming up with some ideas of our own...laughing about them...writing them up...sending them off. One of hers sold. I never heard a word...until almost a decade later, driving down the highway to my cabin in Colorado and checking my voice mail. So, guess what? I'm about to make a whopping one-hundred-thirty bucks on a "confession" story I made up and wrote ten years ago entitled (insert very suggestive title here) !!

If you haven't stopped by my website lately, I hope you'll click here to check out the recent update! www.jenniferarcher.net

Happy Monday,

Jennifer

Buffalo Chicks, Pirates and New Beginnings

There's nothing like a trip down memory lane -- at least if the memories are good ones! And if you make the trip with great friends, all the better. A few weekends ago, my college girlfriends and I got together at my house for a reunion. It's been 27 years since we graduated, and some of us hadn't seen one another in that long! For others, it had been ten or less years. We named ourselves the "Buffalo Chicks" since our school mascot was a buffalo. In keeping with the "chick" theme, as well as the theme "birds of a feather flock together," we wore feathers atop our heads, as you can see in the photo! In order of appearance, left to right, are Jeannette, Danita, Kay, Donna, me, Candy and Margarita. (Since the group photo is too dark in one place to see my friend Danita, I've added another photo of her with Jeannette. Danita is the one with the blue feathers, Jeannette is the one with the pink!.) For one wonderful weekend, we laughed and acted silly, ate, drank, shopped, laughed, watched movies, and laughed some more! We played a question and answer game about things that happened in our wild and crazy youth. To give you an idea, some of the questions were: "Who once told a cop that the next time she needed help, she'd call a hippie?" "Who once rolled a dead bird up in Jenny's car window by the wing?" "Who wore the bluest eyeshadow?" "Who won a whiskey guzzling contest?" "Who held Candy at bay in a locked bathroom by taunting her with a snake?" "Who corrected everyone's grammar?" "Who once sat on a cactus in Palo Duro Canyon?" The greatest thing about our time together was that, ten minutes after everyone arrived, the years melted away, and we were all completely comfortable with one another. It was as if we'd seen each other only the day before. We left, promising we wouldn't wait almost 3 decades before getting together again -- I'm not sure I'd have room in my house for all the walkers!

I saw the new Pirates of the Carribean movie a couple of days ago. Johnny Depp was as funny and fabulous as ever in his role as Captain Jack Sparrow. But I thought the movie was a bit long and had too many stories going on at once, which made it hard to follow at times. Still, it's worth seeing just to watch Johnny Depp in action. (In case you can't tell, I have a thing for Johnny Depp!)

My book OFF HER ROCKER should be showing up in stores in a couple of weeks. The prologue and chapter one are up on my website www.jenniferarcher.net I hope you'll drop by and take a look. The "Home" page has also been updated, as well as the "News and Events" page.

Just as soon as I sign off here, I'm starting a new book. Not reading one, writing one. It's called WHAT SHE NEVER EXPECTED. Wish me luck. The first step is always the most difficult one for me to take, for some reason.

Happy Tuesday,

Jenny

More Than Words

I received the coolest news from my agent last week! The Executive Editor of Harlequin’s More Than Words Program called her to ask if I’d be interested in writing one of the five novellas in the 2007 Volume 4 edition of the More Than Words Anthology, which celebrates women and their achievements. Of course, I said “yes!” The program is Harlequin’s primary philanthropic initiative, and there isn’t another publisher or company in any sector that so widely celebrates the good deeds of women. That really makes me all the more proud of my association with Harlequin, and I’m honored to be one of five authors chosen to write a novella for this wonderful program’s fourth annual anthology.

The third annual edition, More Than Words, Volume 3, will be available in October wherever
books are sold, or you can order it online at http://www.eharlequin.com/. In this unique collection of novellas, you will find stories of courage and determination written by Susan Wiggs, Karen Harper, Kasey Michaels, Catherine Mann and Tori Carrington. These award-winning, bestselling authors have kindly offered their time and creativity to write original short stories of courage and determination inspired by the lives and work of the five exceptional women selected as this year’s recipients of the Harlequin More Than Words award. And by purchasing the book, you will be supporting causes of concern to women. But let me back up and explain how the process works…

If you know a real-life heroine whose compassion is improving the quality of life in her community, a woman like Debra Bonde, founder and director of Seedlings Braille Books for Children in Livonia, Michigan, or Kathy Silverton, founder and president of Stitches from the Heart, a nonprofit organization that boasts ten thousand volunteers who send handmade baby and toddler items to to over 432 hospitals and charities, you can nominate her for the Harlequin More Than Words award at http://www.harlequinmorethanwords.com/. Any woman nominated should be someone who, with each act of kindness, each word of support, is proving that real-life heroines do exist. Five recipients are chosen each year from the nominees and are honored by Harlequin with: (1) $10,000 to advance the work of her associated charity (2) National recognition and promotion at www.HarlequinMoreThan Words.com (3) An all-expenses-paid trip to the award ceremony for her and a friend, and (4) A novella inspired by her life and work written by one of Harlequin’s “most acclaimed authors.” (That would be moi! ~wink~) For more details about the nomination process, please visit http://www.harlequinmorethanwords.com/. But don’t wait too long! The deadline is August 4.

Speaking of women, check back here soon for my next blog entry about my recent college girlfriend reunion. Six of my old college buds gathered at my house for a weekend of laughter and reminiscing. Some of us hadn’t seen each other in about 12 years! Wait’ll you see the funny photos! If I can get them on here, that is! I’m having trouble uploading shots for some reason! In the meantime, I hope you’ll visit my website at http://www.jenniferarcher.net/ and watch for the update which is coming soon. I’ll have updated news, new photos, and the first chapter of my August release OFF HER ROCKER.

Happy Reading!

Jennifer