"Sleeping with Ward Cleaver is hilarious!" -Blake Snyder, screenwriter (Blank Check) and author of the screenwriter's bible, "Save the Cat"

"I just loved Sleeping with Ward Cleaver. It's hilarious. I cannot thank you for making me laugh so much, and for being such a wonderful writer!" -Film Producer Marilyn Atlas (Real Women Have Curves)

Happy (almost!) Spring!

It's approaching 70^o as I write this so even though it's mid-February I am going to be optimistic that springtime is practically here, and totally disregard the sleet and freezing rain in the forecast. Once we're past Groundhog Day (one of my favorite movies), I figure we are free and clear of winters worst. And am usually proven wrong every year! But I can hope?

Winter has brought with it good news for me. I found out recently that my humorous memoir, PARROTHOOD: Twenty Years of Caring for a Vengeful Bird Determined to Kill Me (sort of David Sedaris meets Marley & Me, with a realllly sharp beak) will be published in hardback by Simon & Schuster's Simon Spotlight in the spring of 2010. This has been a book idea that has been near and dear to my heart for a long time, so I'm especially excited to see it come to fruition.

Those of you who know our parrot, Graycie, know that a) she is a piece of work, b) we have amassed many funny stories about her over the years and c) she spends an inordinate amount of time in pursuit of my blood. Graycie provided the inspiration for her alter-ego, Re-Pete, in Sleeping with Ward Cleaver. I hope you'll find the book entertaining and I'll keep you updated on the its progress. I'm thrilled to be working with Simon Spotlight and hear marvelous things about my editor, so it's all good.

Sleeping with Ward Cleaver continues to garner lovely reviews and e-mails from readers. I've enjoyed meeting lots of readers on Facebook, so be sure to stop by and visit me over there. I've had at least four people tell me they laughed till they peed their pants while reading SWWC, so consider yourself warned ;-) .

In other news Sleeping with Ward Cleaver has been nominated for a Library of Virginia Literary Award. I'm quite honored because past nominees have included some of Virginia's best-known authors (and we've got a lot of them here).

My agent is shopping my next novel so with a little luck we'll have some news about that soon. I'm keeping all appendages crossed on that front!

In the meantime, throw another log on the fire and curl up with a good book, or go outside and enjoy the snow if you're stuck with it. The days are getting longer and before you know it we'll all be complaining about how hot it is outside!

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