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Monday, March 12, 2012

Book Clubs, Book Festivals & the Blackhawks

I'm not entirely sure where the first 12 days of March have gone... All I know is that I've been racing through them in a clearly less-than-successful attempt to get done everything I need to do before spring break hits. However, amidst all of the work, there have been some bright spots, and I wanted to pop in and share a few of those.

First of all, I'm blogging in 3 places this week. Today, I'm at Austen Authors giving a retrospective on my long journey to writing According to Jane and the undeniable timelessness of Miss Austen. Tomorrow, I'll be talking about my love of romance during Maggie Marr's "Spring Into Romance" Celebration. And Friday, in preparation for St. Patrick's Day, I'll be talking about "feeling lucky" at Magical Musings. Hope you'll be able to join me for some of these!

As for the picture above, this one is courtesy of the wonderful Pamela Cayne, who was visiting the Tucson Festival of Books this past weekend and saw my "Jane" book at the JASNA booth! I'm still so excited by that!! Thanks so much, Pam ;).

This weekend, I didn't get to fly to Tucson, but I did get to see my first professional hockey game. The Chicago Blackhawks vs. the L.A. Kings were at the United Center last night and, wow, was it an exciting game! Tied at 2 - 2 after the 3rd period, we had five minutes of overtime and then a shootout (!!) before the Kings scored a goal and, thus, won. My son, whose primary ambition in life has been to get to run down the stairs at a live game and bang on the glass, got to do just that yesterday, and I got to see my favorite player (Patrick Sharp, #10, isn't he cute?!) check someone right in front of us. My husband found both of our reactions to be rather amusing.

And last -- but far from least -- I enjoyed a fantabulous visit with a book club I love on Friday night. We talked about A Summer in Europe, and everyone there brought some food to share from one of the places on the European tour. Later this week, I'll post some pictures!

Hope everything is going well with all of you. What have you been doing in March so far??

11 comments:

Edie Ramer said...

You're so busy! I don't know where the first half of March has been either. In fact, where did Feb. go?

How cool that According to Jane was at the Tuscon Festival of Books! Jane gets around to a lot more places than I do.

Marilyn Brant said...

Edie, I know what you mean! February was a blur (!!) and "Jane" has certainly been doing more traveling than I have. I suspect, with the hecticness of RT next month, that April is going to keep us both running, too...

Pamala Knight said...

Just another reason you're my hero, Marilyn--books, festivals and hockey. I have no idea how you keep up with all that you do but I'm so glad that you do it. I'll follow you around your tour this week because all of those topics sound riveting.

Also, good for you and your son! My hubby and I watched the hockey game and even though we were sad about the outcome, it was exciting.

Can't wait to read your other posts!

Pamela Cayne said...

Wow--I love Edie's comment that Jane "gets around." (I always suspected she had some naughty to her... ;-) (on readthrough I should say that Jane has some naughty to her, not Edie!)

Isn't live hockey amazing? We went to our first game about 5 years ago and I totally got it. Too bad the stadium moved across town, or maybe for the best as we were really starting to get into it and those tickets can get expensive!

Here's to a wonderful and fabulous remaining nineteen days of March to everybody!!

Brett said...

Marilyn, I agree -- March is going by way too fast. I have way too much to do at work these days, and with this gift of early, gorgeous spring weather, I refuse to stay at the office past 4:30!!

I'm picturing you at a hockey game and smiling. That's one of the last places I thought you'd ever find yourself, and it's great that you had fun! :-) I've been to a couple of hockey games (many years ago) and it's really the only sport besides tennis that holds my interest...two VERY different sports! LOL!

Hope you're getting the same warm weather in Chicago this week. Enjoy!
Hugs,
Brettski

Marilyn Brant said...

Pamala, xoxo!! It was definitely a good game -- I'm so glad you and your hubby saw it! I remember in high school getting to go to a college hockey match, which was so fast-paced and exciting compared to the other sports I'd watched... It only took me 30 years to go to see another game, LOL, but I'm glad I did ;).

Marilyn Brant said...

Pamela, LOL about that naughty Jane (and about your addendum re: Edie ;). And, yes!! I'll bet you and Montana had fun! I'm almost sorry I ended up loving the live hockey game experience so much. I know we couldn't afford to go to a game very often, let alone get season tickets, but I'm still so glad we were able to swing this one. And it was hilarious watching our son. He went WILD when the 'Hawks scored -- high-fiving the guys around us and singing this song that apparently everyone in the stadium knew but me :).

Marilyn Brant said...

Brettski,
Hey, you!!! How was your trip??! You know I'm looking forward to hearing about it whenever you have a chance to write. It's always extra busy to return after being away and try to catch up on things... As for sports, it's funny -- I like watching tennis, too, and I can't find much of a connection between that sport and hockey either :). Both are really cool, though, and I'd love to have the ability to do either one even moderately well!

Robin Bielman said...

Love your updates! I can't believe it's the middle of March either! I love going to hockey games! Actually, I'm pretty happy at any sporting event. Hope the rest of March brings lots of smiles! (I know it's going to!) ;D

Marilyn Brant said...

Robin, thank you, my dear!!
I do not have your natural athleticism, so I've come to enjoy sports as a spectator even more over the years. In many cases, it's the closest I'll get to participating :). But watching hockey was especially fun. I already want to go again!!

And thanks for the good wishes for March, too. YOU have a BOOK coming out soon, so I think the next couple of months are going to be VERY exciting for you! Looking forward to celebrating...

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