Betty Bolté

I am so very glad to be here in Orlando, meeting new people and receiving/buying new books. I already have a carry-on bag one-third full of books to take home with me. I've only been at the conference since 4:30, so at this point 5.5 hours. I can only imagine how many I'll have to take home. (more…)

Recently I was fortunate to listen to Angela James, of Carina Press, talk at the RWA Southern Magic chapter's monthly meeting, in Birmingham, about the state of digital publishing, or epubbing. She's a lovely person, full of life and humor, and a ton of knowledge about the pros and cons of epubbing. And the vast array of desserts didn't hurt anything except my waistline!
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Okay, let's face it. Change is inevitable. We have to deal with it. But sometimes it's just not what we want or expect. At least, that's the way I feel right now about the new presidential proposed budget for 2011. Especially with regards to NASA's direction changing yet again. I feel sorry for the engineers and designers who have worked so hard to develop the Ares launch vehicle and the new Orion crew exploration vehicle, because they did so at the direction of a previous president's vision. Sigh. (more…)

I am not fearless by any means, though I do love a challenge. A puzzle. A dilemma. I like to work through the mystery and solve it for myself. But in reality I want to know what to expect when I go into a new situation.

That's not always possible though. Not every situation has been "gone through" before by people that I know. Or at least not in the same way as I'm facing.

For example, my dad is in assisted living and doesn't want to be there. He hates the food. He thinks the staff is out to get him and have no respect for him. He says he's living in the wrong state because of the demographics where he is. He wants to move to a different state, therefore. But he can't. (more…)

Like many people in the Baby Boomer generation, I am also part of the Sandwich Generation: those sandwiched between raising their children and caring for their elderly parents. People who are sandwiched know how difficult this can be at times. It can also be a wonderful joy! (more…)

I love word play. Ever since I was a child, I've played games in my head with words. To this day, I rearrange the letters in words into groups of 3 letters that make words and then alphabetize them. I have no idea anymore how or why I started doing this, but it's a habit now. It makes it easy to count the letters in a word, by the way. Which of course is of very little use, unless you're playing Scrabble (another favorite word game). (more…)

Wow! What an experience it is to attend the RWA annual conference. It was wonderful to see DC again. The elegant city brings back so many fabulous memories. I dated my husband there, where he kissed me on the Capitol steps no less. How romantic is that!

There was so much to do and see, new friends to make, and of course 2 agent pitches to get through without breaking into a cold sweat. Thankfully, they went smoothly and I now have to polish my manuscript and submit partials to both. (more…)