Drinking Alone

You’d think I’d be used to it by now.  If you follow me anywhere, Twitter, Facebook, etc., you are already aware of my white zin addiction.  It’s sad but true.  The cheaper the better and I drink it over ice.  Anyone shuddering out there, yet?  Sutter Home is okay, but I prefer Beringer or…Barefoot is pretty good, too.  Beringer is $4.97 a bottle at Wal-Mart.  Used to be more expensive, but for some reason the price came down.  Might be because I’m the only customer who buys it.

I have no one to drink with because my husband doesn’t really drink and he shouldn’t.  Even when he used to have the occasional cocktail, he just became more like himself.  My kids are out on their own.  I have not one friend locally I would feel comfortable inviting over for a glass of wine on the spur of the moment or one I think would come.  My schedule never seems to mesh with any of my friends anyway and many of them live far away from me.  Is anyone feeling sorry for me yet?  Don’t.  I’m sharing the cocktail hour with you.

I tried to call my mother, because frankly it doesn’t hurt for me to have a glass of wine in my hand when I have a conversation with her.  But she doesn’t answer her phone.  She doesn’t have an answering machine, either.

I asked on the Samhain Cafe loop if anyone still believed in the concept of forever in relation to marriage, considering all the rampant divorce, especially among Hollywood celebrities.  But do twenty-somethings everywhere even believe in the idea that marriage is supposed to last a lifetime?  I wondered.  Most of the responses to my inquiry were positive.  Readers on that loop, at least, still think forever is possible.

As I said, that’s a good thing.  Who wants to read a romance entitled “A Sometimes Kind of Guy” or “Until the Going Gets Tough Kind of Guy”?  Romance is part fantasy, it’s an escape from reality.  We all want to believe the guy we’re with won’t bail on us at the first bump in the road, right?  Nor should women duck out of a relationship just because it isn’t ideal at the moment.

My next subject is soulmates.  I’m close to offering a book I’ve been working on (on and off) for fifteen years for sale.  First as an eBook and soon in print.  It’s about a married woman who meets a man who is her soulmate.  But she meets him thirteen years too late, after all her decisions and commitments are made.  Can she walk away from what she has when she discovers something she didn’t even know was possible exists?  It’s called Scattered Moments because even though she never crosses that line, time spent in her soulmate’s company comes back to

haunt them both when her husband is murdered.  (Why does WordPress space funny after you insert images?)  I’m having a hard time getting the blurb just right.  That’s what I worked on today and also finalizing the manuscript format before I send it to someone else to format for the electronic version.  Here’s my latest blurb effort:

A picture is worth a thousand words… 

One touch of a carpenter’s hand forces the wife of a wealthy man to confront a truth she can’t deny:  She found her soulmate much too late. 

Chance meetings feed their longing for each other, but they spell doom for Hart Michaelson and Amanda Heinrich after her husband is murdered.  

When disturbing photographs surface, the unknown photographer forces Amanda to acknowledge that not only was her husband not the man she thought he was neither is she the woman she wanted to be.  

Unless they can expose the killer’s hidden agenda, images of their scattered moments together will keep Amanda and Hart apart forever.

I also got probably the best rejection letter I’ve ever received from an editor which I’m sharing in part, although I won’t mention the name of the editor or the publishing house: 

I finished Scattered Moments and very much enjoyed the story. It’s compelling, very well written, as all your stories are, but…There is absolutely nothing wrong with the writing or the characters or the storyline,  Barb, especially since I was engrossed enough to finish it in one sitting…it seems…not the right publisher for this story. 

I sincerely hope you can find a home for Scattered Moments. This story just reinforces for me what an amazing writing talent you have.

Basically, this particular house doesn’t publish this kind of book, but I found a home for the story.  Barbara Meyers, LLC.  Can’t wait to get it out there within the next couple of weeks.  Thanks for sharing the cocktail hour with me.  In case you were wondering, I’m generally  incapable of drinking more than two glasses of wine (or I fall asleep) and I’ve barely consumed half a glass while writing this post.  Remember to drink responsibly.

Visit me at www.barbmeyers.com

#postaweek2011

#aforeverkindof guy

#scatteredmoments