Shake, Rattle And Roll

I've been thinking a lot about Hurricane Sandy and my friends and family back East. I hope that the storm turns out to be not as bad as feared; I also hope that we can fly back on Wednesday when scheduled and that we have power.

But is seems as if I can't escape Mother Nature. Apparently there was a minor earthquake in the Los Angeles area this morning. Yikes! That would be terribly ironic if I escaped Sandy only to have to deal with The Big One out here.

Being a New Yorker, I haven't experienced too many earthquakes, only very minor ones. Last year, we felt the shaking that came from the quake in Virginia. It was very minor; it almost felt like the subway were running beneath our building. However, we didn't have a subway in that location so my officemate (who was from England, by the way) suspected that it was a quake. He looked it up online and yep... it was. It didn't feel like much of anything, but everyone in our office started screaming as if it were the end of the world. I love it. We can handle blizzards, storms, mass power outages... but a quake makes us shriek like babies.

The good news is, no natural disasters ruined last night's dinner. It was SO good to see my Soap Opera Digest friends and catch up on old times. These particular editors have always been very supportive of my writing and continue to be supportive of my book. I appreciate that because I feel as if they know what they're talking about!

We also talked a lot about how print media is dying. Much as I love the idea of books being online, I'm saddened that most traditional magazines and newspapers are having to switch formats or are just completely folding. There's something to be said about holding a glossy magazine in your hands when you're reading on a train or in the doctor's office... or are standing in line at the supermarket. Plus, print media was really good to me. I enjoyed all of my reporting experiences from writing for the small papers to the national magazines. I'll never forget the thrill of picking up a paper that was hot off the press, being able to smell the ink -- and seeing my byline in print. Digital media reaches a much wider audience, but I do miss those days when I got to be a "classic" newspaper reporter. I'm glad that I got to experience what's sure to be the tail end of print media as we know it.

Anyway, I'm off to celebrate Rachael's birthday and to participate in our Random Acts Of Kindness project. I'm also going to be posting more BAND GEEK excerpts in honor of my upcoming book tour, so stay tuned!

And, of course, please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, now only 99 cents!