Cheeseballs

Hmm, another cold front. These rare occurrences in Texas seem to spur me onto blogging. Which is good because I've been in a bit of a funk all week. Cover art for my novel Brothers . . . coming out June 2007 just came in, and it was not AT ALL what I was expecting. It's been difficult for the art department to tie together themes of 1) the mob 2) a fourteen year old crush, and 3) a heart warming brother/sister relationship. Anyway, I placed my complaint (my agent did too!) and we will see what happens.

On a brighter note, I went white water rafting in the Tennessee Mountains this summer. Since I'm not exactly the outdoorsy adventurous type, this was quite a big deal. Needless to say, I came back alive, but it was pretty frightening at times. Thankfully, we had an excellent guide named Christian (rather fitting, hey?) - a tall, blond, well built, college wrestler who (I thought) was very good looking. My 22 year old daughter, Liz, thought differently. When we docked our boats, he started flirting with her, and afterwards she told me he was a "cheeseball." Since I have to keep up on all the lingo in the Young Adult world, I asked her for an explanation. So, if your wondering, here it is. Cheeseball: A young, blond, bulky, mid-western guy with un-cool tattoos on his bulging muscles, who is completely full of himself. Hmm. Not sure if I will ever have a cheeseball in one of my books, but it was interesting research.