Renewing your wedding vows

Yesterday, in between a dentist visit and my dog's first glucose test at the vet, I edited the page proofs of my new book "Renewing Your Wedding Vows." (Page proofs are the text layouts, so that you can see how the finished pages will look with graphics and font) I absolutely LOVE this stage of creating a book! Amazing to see how they've arranged it after I started with 600 blank pieces of paper at Minute One of the project. And I was laughing out loud to see some of my inside jokes in there ("Hand over the mai tai" is a family 'legend' from our trip to Hawaii when I was...um...underage. We were at a luau, and I didn't want Hawaiian Punch at the bar). In every one of my books, I have inside jokes and references to songs that mean a lot to me. After writing 29 books, it gives me a giggle to have a little bit of my own history in each of them. Right now, I'm working on a new novel where I've incorporated some of my college memories as a party planner for the Belmont Honors House. You may not think the Honors students can throw a hot party, but you would be wrong. It's all about the creativity, and I lived with artists and musicians, filmmakers, and fabric designers. We were legends.

I'm starting to keep an eye out for the new issue of InStyle Weddings...if my quotes were used by the reporter (and this time, credited to me...ahem) I'll achieve my longtime dream of appearing in InStyle Weddings magazine. I crave this like ice cream and cookie dough. It will be a pinnacle.

And I'll be doing some travel writing for a new Web site. We just nailed down the agreement, and I will be their honeymoon and pre-wedding trip expert. I have free press comp trips piled up and haven't had time to take any of them! Diving in St. Croix, a girls' weekend in Boston, hiking at Havasupai in Arizona, bed and breakfasts in Napa...all waiting for me to tear myself away from my responsibilities here and get away from it all. Time to get out my calendar and block off some weeks....

Today is a writing day...doing the 5 Senses chapter for my book with Casey Cooper: "What's Your Bridal Style?" Also doing the men's wardrobe chapter, the transportation chapter and perhaps the favors chapter. I'm old-fashioned and write everything out on yellow legal pad, so I have pages and pages of notes and squiggles and crossed-off false starts -- but it all comes together perfectly. I'll never be one to go directly to the keyboard. It has to marinate on the page...

J. came over with coffee last night. He makes me smile.