Our church is holding a program for children this evening called Heroes Unmasked, which teaches stories about the great heroes of the Bible. I love the slogan. Danger. Adventure. Candy. Sounds like fun doesn't it? This reminds me of when my family went to church on Halloween, and we all dressed up like Bible characters. I wore a long white gown and had an empty box of Morton salt dangling around my neck. I stood posed by the door. Can you guess which Bible character I was? Lot's wife.

I'm excited. Early tomorrow morning—and I do mean early—3:30 a.m. my time, I'm doing a telephone interview with a radio station in Ireland. The Shop on Blossom Street and A Good Yarn are scheduled to be released there shortly, and my publisher managed to get me this radio gig. I've got the alarm set for 3 a.m. and will have a cup of coffee in my hand well before the phone rings—that, at least is the plan. I'm not so concerned about the time, because it's only an hour earlier than when I normally wake anyway. I always knew this writing career of mine would take me to exotic places, but I never dreamed it would be Ireland by phone.

I believe I mentioned I appeared at the Portland Women's Show last weekend, and it was great. Wayne came with me, which he rarely does—this was his first women's show. I think he might be tempted to return, because he rather enjoyed some of the free samples that were handed out. His first surprise (and mine!) was a beer milkshake. In fact, he went back for seconds. Then there's a new exercise craze that's apparently sweeping the country—pole dancing. We watched a couple of women give it a try. Then Wayne leaned close and whispered, "Do you know where I'm supposed to stick the dollar bill?" He got an elbow in the ribs for that one.

The Gutsy Girls got together for potluck last night. We're all published authors who meet to encourage and support one another. We were fortunate to have as our guest, Theresa Park, who is Nicholas Sparks' literary agent (and mine!). Theresa offered us her insights into the biz. There's something truly energizing when friends gather. We've discovered that we're smart, we're savvy, we're gutsy, and we're also pretty darn good cooks.

I'm back in the groove now: swimming in the mornings, writing during the day, knitting and reading in the evenings. I don't think life can get much better than this. Oh, did I forget to mention the coconut cake? Donna Rae Ramberg from Georgia stopped by my office yesterday afternoon and knowing my affinity to coconut cake, she brought me one. You can bet we had one happy office on Monday afternoon. Being the generous soul that I am, I shared the cake with the bookstore downstairs and with some family friends and of course, my husband. Donna Rae promised me the recipe so I'll pass it along once I have it in my hot little hands.

Wayne and I had a wonderful weekend. He met me in Portland, Oregon, where I spoke at the Women's Show on Friday and Saturday. I hadn't seen my sweet husband in nearly a week, and it was our date night on Friday. We asked the front desk to recommend a nice restaurant within walking distance, and the clerk gave us the name and address of a place "close by". It was within walking distance all right, if I was a camel or a pack mule. Of course, the young man didn't take into account that I'd been on my feet all day. Still we had a wonderful dinner and took a leisurely stroll through Lloyd Center (a huge shopping mall) on the return trip.

I'm in Portland, Oregon for the Women's Show and I'm excited to be here. I heard an interesting statistic about book sales. Researchers say 75 percent of all books are bought by women. When I told Wayne this, he snorted and said, "75 percent of everything is bought by women!" Wayne will be joining me here today. On Sunday we'll go to a Seahawks game with good friends, the Frelingers. I'm hiding the receipts from my Dallas shopping spree and having the clothes shipped separately to my office. Wayne will never notice if I'm wearing anything new.

I had a wonderful flight to Dallas, Texas for the Borders Group meeting. Unfortunately my luggage didn't come with the plane, which gave my friend and I the perfect opportunity to go shopping. I was assured my luggage would arrive on an afternoon flight. We did not finish shopping until 9pm and then I arrived at the airport to discover the luggage was locked up for the night. I did need an excuse to shop more.

I'm scrambling like a mad woman to get everything cleared off my desk as I leave in the morning for Dallas, Texas. I'm excited. I'm speaking to the Borders Bookstore managers. It's a regional meeting, and Vince Flynn and I will both be there. Then on Thursday I'm off to Portland, Oregon where I'll be appearing on both Friday and Saturday at the Women's Show. In addition I'll be visiting with cousins and my mother's sister, my Aunt Betty Zimmerman, who is not to be confused with my wonderful Aunt Betty Stierwalt, my father's oldest sister. As you can see I have an exciting week ahead of me.

I was asked to be part of a QFC (Quality Food Center) Grand Re-Opening in Renton yesterday afternoon. Seeing that I shop at my local QFC, I was happy to comply. I jokingly told my Thursday morning Breakfast Club that I'd probably end up in the freezer section next to the boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Guess what? The distributor set up the autographing table in the refrigeration area next to the freezer section. Thankfully, I had on a jacket, or I would have froze to death. The really wonderful part was all the readers I met and the fact that QFC was handing out samples of pie and cheese and crackers and other assorted goodies. This is a perfect example of when you give, you receive. Have a fun weekend; I'm off to grandkids' soccer games and Ft. Lewis for another autographing.