First Word

Rating: ***1/2 The Other Woman was a cute comedy with heart. The set up goes like this: Carmen Diaz's character unwittingly falls in love with a married man and one night decides to surprise him at his home in Connecticut. To her shock and embarrassment her man doesn't open the front door, but (a-hem) his wife greets her. Realizing her boyfriend is married, Diaz's character leaves, but his wife Kate (played by Leslie Mann) is suspicious. She looks on her husband's phone bill and is able to track down Diaz's character, a high-powered lawyer, at work. After realizing it's true that her husband is having an extramarital affair, Kate hyperventilates and causes such a scene that Diaz's character attempts to rescue her. From there, the real mayhem gets under way as the newly bonded women discover more than one mistress. As a divorced woman who also had a relationship with a man who cheated, I felt Mann's pain. They did not gloss it over and make it cute ...

Here I am with my second cup of coffee in me (I try to drink only one cup, but lately I keep sipping a second), and I'm contemplating what I will share with you. Today ... hmmm ... let's go personal inspiration. Here is a piece of information: it took me 20 years to finally get my professional AND personal life right . I now have my company 3L Publishing on track. At the same time, I have my personal life working at an optimal level. I cannot really talk about the "what-went-wrong" part in my personal life, as my divorce agreement stipulates that I cannot publicly discuss it. I can, however, generally say that reducing one's expectations is the first step toward unhappiness. I used to say, "Expect nothing and be happy with what you get." My fiancé Kirk Donnelly heard that and groaned, "How sad." Yes, I was living a life of "sub-zero expectations." Are you living like that? Do you expect nothing from your partner, and then you're ...

Meaningless or important -- you be the judge LOL ... here are the things I learned in 2012. I will either make you laugh, roll your eyes, or agree with me. Here we go: 1. When you move twice expect your stuff to magically disappear with no clear explanation of where it went ... did it get dropped? Did the fairies swoop in and move it to nowhere land? Did the movers steal it? Aw the questions are endless. I am most specifically curious what happened to my favorite leather jacket! It is missed in the cold weather. 2. When you get divorced, expect your ex to annoy you somehow. My annoyance? Taking all of my jackets to the Salvation Army. Yep! I had quite a collection. There are now some poor people with a beautiful INC leather, full-length coat. Oh, I miss it! 3. Dating in your forties is way better than your twenties. The confidence alone makes a whole difference. I had more dates than I knew what to do with. And it was fun ... for a while; but then you know I'm really like a ...

I am staring at a blank blog screen. I keep thinking, "I need to market my business..." I don't want to repeat the same ole thing. What do I say? Anything meaningful? Like why blogging is important, and I should be saying something here that will matter to women-owned business, business in general, and authors. What am I going to say? How about that my life is crazy and I can't tell up from down? Does anyone ever feel that way? You don't know if you're coming or going. I love being single again. I have been dating like crazy -- and that's fun. But at the end of the day, I still like that one stable point ... that one person who gets me. I do have someone like that in my life. He does get me. And here is what I should share with all single people -- and he taught me this ... don't try to control anyone. Let it be -- that is how you go with the flow and the direction of the current will scoop you up and take you where you need to go. And my next lesson, ...

It's humorous Saturday so nothing serious. In my newly single status, I have encountered so many different ways men try to meet or pick up on me. I find the biggest offenses seem to almost always involve social media or at the very least something electronic. Here are my top 5 picks that we'll sarcastically call: who are you kidding ? Here it goes from the bad to the worst: "Hi" -- who ever thought that monosyllabic "hi" was somehow a great conversation starter. Just so you know ... where exactly can I take "hi"? Seems to me not very far. Texting a stranger with "how are you?" It should be more like, don't text a stranger at all. Don't ask me how I am when I have no clue in the world who the hell you are. And why I am responding to some random strange guy from area code 209 is beyond me. Posting wine, roses, love cups or anything else completely random on my FB wall. Let me back up ... I don't even know you and you'r...

Anyone out there going through a divorce? Now say with me all at once, "Divorce sucks!" I think that is an understatement, but hey! I don't use profanity on the blog, so there you go! Actually, I am making myself chuckle here. It's good to laugh when laughter seems so far from reach. The changes on my script California Girl Chronicles written by the script doctor just made me laugh till I wanted to cry. He is so gifted, but I can't use his name for a number of very good reasons. It reminded of me of a bawdy Friends episode ... and that says an interesting comment on our combined skills. I was told by a little bird, he thinks I'm an excellent storyteller. Thank you! I think he is an excellent screenwriter ... just calling a genius a genius is all. Like my blog love-fest or what?! Well, in sharing I am cheering myself up, and I'm letting you know that the script is progressing. And I'm taking my despair over a terrible, brutal and divorce air out int...