Woke up thinking about my first book, and laughing at my earlier self who thought that simplifying the plot would make it easier. Yeah. Writing a simple novel is like performing Greensleeves. Every note had better be perfect and you’d better have the voice to carry it. Simplicity exposes every weakness.

Geocaching is very, very fun. Our kids had gotten kind of bored with hiking, and who can blame them when they were used to stomping all around Olympic National Park and the Pacific wilderness coast? It’s hard to top that. But treasure hunting, aha, they are all over that. A GPS can be had for under $100 and that plus your boots are all you need to get started. We tried it for the first time this week. Next morning, first question: “Are we going treasure hunting again today?” This morning: both kids had boots on while it was still dark out. One was still in jammies. If you want a fun and inexpensive family activity that gets everybody outside, visit geocaching.com and check it out.

Read Bliss to You by Trixie Koontz (as told to Dean Koontz). Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Now I need to review it for Writers are Readers. That’ll be like writing a review for the Tao of Pooh. What can you say but, “Buy one for everybody on your Christmas list”?

Last thing: why do I have to search to find clothes to fit my kindergartener that are not Hannah Montana fashions? I can see dressing like that for teens. But we’re talking early elementary. My kid will not be dressed like Hannah Montana at her age, kthxbai.