I say "noisy" because it's 5:45 AM and the birds are chirping like mad out there right now, gang!! How cool! Could mean it's not raining. We'll see when the sun actually comes up.

Didn't the Cannes Film Festival look insane yesterday afternoon??? Wowie. It actually kind of looked a little fun, and I definitely don't usually look on those over-the-top media blitz extravaganzas as "fun."  But everybody seemed to be having such an intensely good time in this absolute pandemonium. The photo below seems to be of Johnny Depp's bodyguard attempting to keep him from being swallowed alive by the press. I wasn't there so I don't really know what was going on right at that moment, but anyway. (Is he the most handsomest bodyguard in the known history of the world, though, folks?? Yowza.) (Hey! I want a bodyguard, too!!) (But only if he's as handsome as that one.)

Well, on a calmer but equally exciting note, yesterday was a wonderful day for me, as well. My sister, Lori, and my biological mother, Cheryl, came to visit yesterday. I hadn't seen my biological mother in eleven years. She looked great and we had such a nice visit. And she gave me some really good advice about these dandelions that are growing like mad all over my flowerbeds. The advice involved cooking them up or  tossing them into a salad and thus saving a little money on the grocery bill. My sister, perhaps knowing me a little better, pointed out that I could also make dandelion wine... (Of course, I only drink dandelion wine that comes from France. And preferably dandelions that grow in the Bordeaux region.) (I'm so fucking serious!!)

Okay. No I'm not. But I won't tell you which part I'm not serious about: Do I in fact drink dandelion wine that doesn't come from France? Or is it that I do not insist that the dandelions come only from the Bordeaux region??

On a more serious note, gang. Sadly, I have to stop drinking alcohol again for awhile. That little kidney of mine is kicking back at me again. You know, for me, having all this exciting career stuff going on, seemingly every day now, my energy level starts to just get higher and higher until it's going through the roof and I can't really concentrate on all the added work that needs doing because of all this good stuff that's going on.  So rather than doing my yoga and my meditation time every evening, I've been watching the clock like a hawk and the moment it gets anywhere near "the cocktail hour" I shut down the laptop, grab a cocktail, watch an old movie (well, I eat dinner, too). And I totally chill out this way. I love it, of course, but several nights running is called playing with fire. Loyal readers of this lofty blog no doubt recall the highly painful episodes I've had with kidney stones during the past decade. So beginning today, I have to go back to the yoga/meditation routine and "cocktails and old movies" will have to wait.

Still, my energy is intense these days. It gets so hard to focus. I not only have to promote and market my newest novel, Twilight of the Immortal (after taking a couple of her great online classes, I'm now working with Philippa Burgess, of Creative Convergence, Inc. in Los Angeles, on the marketing of that book and she is like a human dynamo or something; I highly recommend her), anyway. I also have to promote that Silver Medal IPPY Award that my novel Freak Parade just won. Plus there's that imminent announcement of the annual literary award M. Christian and I are going to be sponsoring, and I am also writing that adaptation of Neptune & Surf with my screenwriting partner, Jerry, in L.A.. And I have to say, folks, that that project is going extremely well. It is so exciting for me. But all of this good stuff just takes all that incredible energy and turns it up a notch, you know what I mean? So that yesterday, after Cheryl & Lori left here, I sat at my laptop and stared at this press release Bill B. had sent me from Hawaii to use as a sort of template for the Freak Parade press release and I just sort of sat there, transfixed by how great his press release was. And I couldn't focus, couldn't figure out, "Okay, how do I get my press release to look as great as this one does?" when normally that kind of thing is a no-brainer for me.

I so wished Bill were here in person already (he's coming in July to help me with all this promotion stuff, and getting my many projects organized, etc.), but he has this crazy-weird thing called "a life of his own" that keeps getting in the way of his being at my beck & call, 24/7.... I used to be the kind of woman who was so organized and so on top of everything. If you knew me in my Manhattan days, you probably remember it well. But now I might actually have too many projects going great at the same time. It gets me a little confused. I go down the hall, calling, "Bill, could you come here for a second," and then I get to his room and realize, "oh, wait -- he's not here yet." ha ha ha (No, I'm not really that bad off yet!)

Okay, gang! Have a terrific Sunday, wherever you are and whatever you're doing. Relax if you can; if not, hone that energy and aim for the moon -- you'll probably see me there!! Thanks for visiting! See ya.

[Promoting Pirates of the Caribbean #4 at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday.]