I’ve been told by a source in sunny California that I “totally rock” as a book reviewer. That made my day. To be honest, it made my week! I’ll just say this week has been the pits as I’ve descended from my mountain retreat and gotten back to routine.

I’m not the only one. Everyone’s been discussing the conference/post-conference blues. All that adrenaline that flowed 90 miles an hour through my system is gone. Gone with the jet-fueled wind!

If you want to read what it was like for me to pitch my article ideas in a room full of editors, read Terry Whalin’s blog entry, She Was Trembling from “The Writing Life.” I’m afraid I was trembling when I sat across from Jane Struck of Today’s Christian Woman because I read her letter from the editor every month — and she hangs out with these famous people who appear in her magazine. Well, she hung out with me at Glorieta, and gave me a full 15 minutes of her uninterrupted attention. It was fun, but I was a bit trembly and decided to keep my hands in my lap so they wouldn’t shake my papers.

So I’m not quite the poised freelance writer yet, but at least it seems my book reviewing is bearing some fruit. One of our Mind & Media authors, Tim Bete, has been very pleased with his publicity — and now that I’ve gotten to know him a bit, he’s every bit as nice as he appears in his book, IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WERE NO DIAPERS. He sent us an excerpt we can post anywhere, which I’m saving for my print column (that I write for a magazine. They get first rights, then I’ll post it here.)

If you haven’t read Tim Bete’s book, what are you waiting for? (It’s the one down there with the baby bottoms.) I laughed SOO hard when I had to change a baby diaper in the airplane bathroom last week (twice) — it was almost as funny as Bete’s description in the book — ALMOST!

Hey, this guy “totally rocks” as a PR firm reviewer. Check out the article he wrote about us. Let me just say — I’ve gotten a lot of visitors to my site who click through from his site — so I’m appreciative.

I’m so proud to work for Mind & Media. It’s very cool to be “on the job” when I’m reading an awesome book. And then to be able to have a forum where I can recommend it to others is great. My review of THE HEART OF A MOTHER is getting picked up by another site for women, and she’s asked me to write a monthly column for them — that will be fun.

Hope you have a nice weekend!