First Word

Let me share a brief, but ridiculous commentary on "packing". Yes, packing for travel. Now most of you were expecting I might comment on something relevant, important or even trendy. No, not today. Today it's about the bag and the clothes. I am off to the Miami Book Fair to meet new authors and sell books. I was super pleased to procure a non-stop flight too. Don't you just hate it when you're going to Vegas and your flight stops twice, and one stop is in Utah. Those of you not map-challenged that should resemble half of a triangle. Do you think the trip planner sat around and just threw stops up in the air and picked two just to ensure it's LONG trip? Ah, sorry, I digress. P.S., I once took an American Airlines flight that did make two stops -- and yes, one was in Utah. Well, to continue my most ridiculous and inconsequential blog on packing. Here is the best tip I ever learned in the entire world about packing! Roll your clothes. Don't fold them, roll th...

A fine line exists between humor that is funny or humor that is just angry. If you use sarcasm in your writing, best to be careful that it doesn't tip over into sounding just pissed off or mean-spirited. I love to use humor in my newsletter First Word (sign up on the 3L homepage ). I sprinkle the funnies in my blog too, but I try to balance what's funny between solid information. If I do nothing but post humorous reflections -- and I'm a serious business woman -- you might not think there is any substance here. So a nice surprise and a funny once in awhile work too; but recently I started doing some research on some humorists to pitch the book Confessions of a Las Vegas Motorcop and noticed that some bloggers out there try to be funny or sarcastic. Problem is some of the posts are just mean or angry. You don't need to be mean to people and call them out in a way to embarrass them to be funny. And if you think name-calling makes you sound funny and you're expressing...

My new boyfriend! Funny things always happen when I travel. OK, that really depends on what you define as "funny." I guess we could also call them annoying. I am a people-watcher for sure. When I travel solo, my people-watching skills are in full tilt whirl. Out of sheer boredom when I landed in LAX, I took a seat at an open cantina just to observe the comings and goings of the many travelers. As I crunched my orange-colored chips amply dipped in salsa, I started to make a bet with myself if I could identify who lived in Los Angeles and who was merely marching by to get to the next concourse and gate. In LA, it's not a challenge. You can call LA the "look-at-me" capitol of the world. The guys, who I assumed with probable accuracy, strolled by the in the latest, too-casual-to-travel looks that were comprised of designer t-shirts that probably cost a fortune but nothing to make; and the girls, who strolled by in impossibly high heels to be flying or walking in ...