"How , Oh How, Will We Get To Sydney? Throw More Salt Water Now!" Sung to the tune of, "Where oh where did my little dog go? Where, oh where, can he be?"

Now calling all Bone Dressing Fans... Can you help keep Syd busy while I write the next book? I'm dripping wet, my keyboard's soaked in salt water, and Syd's looking for her bucket as I type!

Situation: Syd's official travel agent, Michelle, has completed Syd's itinerary. Syd and Beau will be traveling by boat through the Panama Canal en route from Houston, Texas to Sydney, Australia in book 2 of Bone Dressing. But, as you know, Syd has almost zero patience and way too much imagination!

Question: Do you have any cool, creative travel ideas Syd can stay busy dreaming about for the next few months while I wrap this book up?

Syd's call for help: "Surely, there are more creative possibilities! Michelle is driving me up the wall, and if I drown her, we'll never get to Australia! Please! This is YOUR chance to save my sanity! I need something to fill my head with while she writes the next book. I need your ideas, NOW!" Syd & Beau want to hear from you! Your comments, no matter how "far out," are welcome ...

Why Should You Care???: This is totally and completely for fun! Syd would love to hear about readers' creative ways to get from Houston to Sydney.

Are you up for the challenge??? Syd and Beau are counting on you! As am I! I'm really tired of them dousing my keyboard with salt water while they wait, by no means patiently, on yours truly to write the book!!! And while I love lap-kitties, T.J. is gettin' a little warm now that summer's bearing down on us here in Houston!

Michelle I. Brooks (Full-time lover, kisser, mom, habanero-eater, and writer; part-time cook, dancer and chauffeur; current-day travel agent for the Bone Dressing Express!)

What a Wonderful World ...

OUCH! Sorry - didn't mean to type so loudly in your ear! But, I just had to pinch myself to make sure this was real. Life is real. Things are ... crazy at the moment, a little unreal. Funny how even the good stuff, the really good stuff, can be almost as stressful as some of the bad ...

Change, even when it's for the better, can be challenging. Intriguing, exciting, invigorating, but challenging none the less. I guess that's what we're here for though - to play this funny little game called life. And sometimes we get our hands a little messy. Not the kind of messy you can reach for a bar of soap to wash off though ... No, more like when you used to color with markers instead of crayons and they'd smear ink all over the side of your hand. It would take forever to wear off. Didn't matter how much you scrubbed, it was staying put until it darn well decided to go. Then you'd wake up one day and suddenly realize your hands were clean again.

Guess that's how it is with change, I keep wanting to be able to just go wash my hands and get back to normal. To status quo. But change settles into you in its own good time. And the more you struggle with it, the longer that takes ... but no matter how long that is, you never quite get back to the normal you that you once were, because it no longer exists. You're someone new, someone a shade different from the you that you were before. Someone you have to get to know all over again.

Still, at the end of the day, each and every day, the good and the not so good, I'd have to agree with Louis Armstrong ... What a wonderful world! Don't you think so? Take a quick peek ... we could all use a free hug every now and again.

Book Trailers R Us!

Wow ... just wrapped up the book trailer for Bone Dressing, unbelievable! I still have chills creeping up and down my spine! It is exactly what I had all wrapped up in my head while I was creating Syd's world in Bone Dressing. It couldn't be any more perfect.

This is one of those times though, that I'm glad I had absolutely no idea what I was in for before I started! Oh, I knew it would take some time, some effort, some learning, some help ... but, oh my God! I had no idea just how much time, effort and help it would take to get me from where I was (knowing absolutely nothing other than I wanted to make my own book trailer for Bone Dressing) to where I am (still knowing very little, but having one pretty damn cool book trailer in my back pocket to show for it).

I also know that I absolutely, positively adore my kids and my brand spanking new husband, without whose help I couldn't have done this!

So, book trailer done. Check. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Well, time for this little puppy to get back to writing ... can't wait to have to do this all over again for book two in the Bone Dressing series!