Writing A Novel: Happy Birthday To Me!

Stop whatever you're doing and get ready to celebrate! It's my birthday today, which means I'm now 39. It's the last year of my 30s and I officially feel old. Then again, my grandfather lived to be 98 1/2 and my grandmother was 96 when she died last year. So in my family, at least, I'm not even middle aged.

I'm all for growing old gracefully, but I do have mixed feelings about being 39. On the one hand, I'm still pretty young and have plenty to look forward to. So far, I've done most of the things that I've wanted to do: I've traveled, I married a great guy, I put out an album, I started my own business, I published a book. On paper it sounds great, but I do sometimes feel that I haven't accomplished enough. Yes, I reached all of these goals, but my jewelry isn't being sold at Tiffany's, nor is my book a best seller. I have really high expectations for myself and I haven't yet reached them. As I push toward 40, should I get more into the mindset of being satisfied with what I have -- or am I still young enough to be an idealist and to keep hoping for big dreams? I had a vision of where I'd be at 40 in terms of my achievements and I don't think I'm there yet. I know, this probably sounds like a silly problem, but there are days when I'm very down on myself because business is slow or I feel like I haven't written enough. I think that I'm my own worst critic; maybe this is what I REALLY need to work on as I finish out this age decade.

Since this is a blog about writing, I do have to say that being older does make a difference. When I started BAND GEEK, back in 2002, I was 28 and thought I knew it all. I didn't; I was still just a kid. That decade makes a difference. The best parts of that book came to me when I rewrote sections and was in my late 30s. I just knew the world better and had more insight as to how people interact. I could look back on my teens with both a teen and adult perspective, whereas when I was 28, I was still too young.

I think I have a lot more to learn and hope that my life -- writing and otherwise -- continues to get better. The 30s were much happier than my 20s, and my 20s bested my teens. Maybe the 40s will be my best decade yet!

Please give me THE BEST birthday gift you can give and read my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, just 99 cents this month!

Random Acts Of Kindness In California

I had an absolutely wonderful time yesterday with my cousin Rachael and her friends. For her birthday, Rachael wanted to perform "random acts of kindness," so a bunch of us met up in a park near the ocean in Long Beach and formed a "kindness mob." We then approached, well, random people and Rachael would hand them a small wrapped gift. She gave a tub of Play-Doh to a mom and little girl and California Pizza Kitchen gift certificate to the man who took our photo, among others. I didn't hand out any gifts, but I liked being outside in the sunshine with new friends.

One thing that pleasantly surprised me was that every person accepted the little gifts without much question. The Play-Doh even got the little girl to stop crying! I wasn't expecting people to be so willing to take things from strangers because we're a pretty suspicious bunch in New York City. We're all, "If you see something, say something," so we'd probably call the cops on someone who as handing out presents. Sad, but true.

However, Rachael is pretty tiny and youthful looking so she hardly looks dangerous. The most suspicious anyone got was the man who took our picture and kind of looked at us like "WTF?" when she handed him the gift certificate. Rachael now wants to hand out gifts in Central Park so she can see what happens. I told her that if she wants to take on an even bigger challenge, she should hand them out while wearing a tinfoil hat.

That evening, we celebrated Rachael's birthday at a garlic-themed restaurant in Beverly Hills called The Stinking Rose. There, I got to meet her uncle from her dad's side of the family (in other words, not related to me), as well as some other friends. What's interesting is that the uncle is also a writer, mainly of short stories. It makes me wonder if certain talents and types of creativity are genetic? It's funny how Rachael and I spent years not knowing of the other, but she, too, is a writer and plays the flute.

Only two more days of vacation and then it's back to the grind -- but it will be an exciting grind since it's the start of my book tour. Woo hoo!

Meanwhile, please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.