If you ever decide you must get on a plane again and talk to a bunch of romance writers that think you are as fabulous as you are, I know the Greater Seattle group would love to see you as well.

I hope you’ll feel better soon.

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Jen-T, bless you. Your story balanced the memory of my plane ride to Maui. The woman stood in the aisle, just behind me, with a baby on her hip, telling the woman on the window that /she/ should have that seat, even if it wasn’t assigned to her, because in her words “I have baby.” Luckily for her, the woman behind me was much more polite than I would have been. (My response would have been “Oh, is that what that was?”)
Granted the baby (with her snooty mother on the aisle seat) was much nicer to listen to than the woman behind me. When the landing got quite hairy (I’m now afraid of flying, thanks to this landing), the woman behind me starting chanting Buddhist chants incessantly. Interestingly, when the landing got scary (the pilot had to abort and re-abort the landing three or four times), all the screaming babies on the flight became quiet. Indeed, everyone on the flight was quiet. Except, of course, for my Buddhist neighbor behind me.
At least babies don’t chant incessantly.

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Traveling: Been back and forth across the country from PA to Seattle four times this year – most not happy trips since they were for Heather’s melanoma surgery. I understand – I understand – I understand. At Newark airport in an aborted attempt to get to my bus that would take me to my car parked in bus terminal in Bethlehem, I received a jaywalking ticket – and missed my bus, giving me another lovely two hours wait in the terminal. Can you say: “Beam me any frigging-where, Scotty – just let me get there FAST!”?

No more conference-speaking: Nooooooooooo! Heard you for te first time years ago at VFRW and loved your style and honesty – we aspiring Jennys don’t get enough of that – style or honesty. Take a break and then come to Pocono/Lehigh Valley chapter’s workshop in March with Bob – you don’t have to say anything – just sit in the audience and eat chocolate chip cookies.

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Airplaning is a horror since 9/11, and that screaming brat was probably just saying what everybody else was thinking.

When I encounter a screaming kid in a public place, I catch his eye, look him straight in the face, and say, “Me, too, kid.” Somehow, that seems to make them feel calmer, and their mothers, too, once they adjust.

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Enjoy the Cherry Conference, wish I could go, but I’ll see you in Low Country.

I used to always worry when I took my kids on airplanes when they were little, especially on longer flights. One never knows how kids will be. Lucky me, my kids never screamed. I did however change one person’s perspective on kids and planes. A man sitting in front of me when I was traveling with my oldest, although she was only about a year at the time tried to get everyone to switch seats with him. No one would. No, I didn’t take offense. I was worried myself. I had food and bottle and everything under the sun to try and make sure she didn’t disturb the peace. The flight was only about 2 1/2 hours, but still, kids are kids. She was a gem the whole way there, well sort of. She kept tossing her toy to the floor and laughing hysterically as I had to bend over to get it while she stood on my lap singing the barney song. You know, I love you, you love me…. yeah. What I didn’t know was that everytime I reached down to pick up her toy, she’d pat the bald spot of the gentleman in front of me. You know, the guy who wanted to move away from me. Sigh… I apologized a million times. He just smiled polietly and nodded, then turned back around. I was mortified. When the plane landed, I had to gather up kid, diaper bag and umbrella stroller which fit above me. It was a struggle. The guy in front of, much to my surprise offered to help – he offered to hold the baby! I damn near died. He even offered her his bald spot to distract her while I got the stroller down. As we walked off the plane he said to me something like while he still didn’t want to sit near a screaming child, he apriciated everything I did to keep her happy and thought she was a lovely child and I was a wonderful mother. I liked that guy.

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Meanwhile, I hope you keep teaching, Jenny, but not at the expense of your health. You have already gone above and beyond helping other writers, so I hope you rest with no guilt whatsoever….

There is a time and a place for everything under the sun.

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Being a non-traveler who is married to a travel addict, I totally feel your pain about conferences. I’m betting it’s not the teaching that’s wearing you down as much as it is the traveling. So … instead of you going to conferences, how about if you have the students come to you?

You’re already kind of doing that with the cherry con. What if you worked up a long weekend workshop plan and presented it at a location no more than an hour from your home, 3 or 4 times each year? That way you wouldn’t get burned out from the constant go-go-go, but we wouldn’t lost out on the chance to learn from a truly fabulous instructor.

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Perhaps if we arranged for the people of Australia to join hands and spell out your name so that it is visible from space — would that help?

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