Well, I always seem to drive myself, but this past couple of weeks in Las Vegas I have pushed the envelope a bit. I've done five presentations to readers and writers promoting "Seven Deadly Samovars," all on different subjects, attended a few meetings, written several more chapters of the new Silver Sisters book, "Vanishing Act in Vegas," finished the proposal for "You Don't Say," with my co-author on that project, submitted a short story to an anthology, and posted columns three times a week to www.examiner.com and one a week to www.perpetual prose.com.

Today I took the day off. On Sunday, the author rested. Had breakfast with my granddaughter and marveled at the fact that with her 12th birthday approaching at the end of the month, she is now almost as tall as I am. She has transitioned from a child to an almost-teen. We talked a bit about how different things were when I was her age, as she took time out to text her mother and show me many of the photos and aps on her cellphone. We hung out and chatted, like a couple of girlfriends...okay, girlfriends with a bit of an age gap...okay, again...a pretty big age gap, but able to hold fun conversations.

I wish I could watch my grandsons grow up as I have with her, but photos for the most part have to do. England is a long way off, and I'm lucky to be able to visit once a year. Little Tennessee is almost two and Texas is three already. Why is it that all of my three grandchildren are named after places? Texas, Tennessee (a bit unusual for a couple of British lads) and almost-teenage Denali named for the national park in Alaska.

The interesting thing to me is that unusual names aren't considered unusual anymore. In fact, the unusual ones are names like Sally, or Bob. You know, good solid names that used to be widely used. As authors we need to remember this when naming our characters. Make sure that their names are typical of the times.

Well, as I said, I'm taking the day off, so I'm going to the movies to see Pirate Radio. Time to kick back and listen to what is supposed to be some great rock, and with Phillip Seymore Hoffman in it, it should be good.

Next week it's back to L.A. for a while.

Listen to Morgan's Radio interview on the

MICHAEL DRESSER SHOW

PodCast and Live Broadcast

Lifestyle TalkRadio
August 20, 2008
10:30am EST/1:30pm PST

The interview will be archived on
THE MICHAEL DRESSER SHOW site
for a few days and after that it will be on www.silversistersmysteries.com and www.morganstjames-author.com

I was doing a presentation and signing books last Saturday, at Cheesecake and Crime in Henderson NV. Afterwards, I got to wondering if I would be people-oriented and comfortable in the spotlight if I hadn't been raised in the type of family I was lucky to be a part of. And if I hadn't found myself in a situation I where I had to literally "sink or swim."

Both sides of my family were friendly, outgoing people. I think my Dad was a little more of an extrovert than his siblings, but my Grandma (see earlier post) was definitely out there. As far as my Mom's folks, they were akin to a family circus. (check out some of the family posts on this blog.)

I wasn't always an extrovert. In fact, people are amazed to learn that I was a very shy person until I was married to my second husband. He was so outgoing it was impossible not to follow suit. So that part of me matured. But I still wasn't a speaker.

Back in the mid 80's I took a job representing a state-of-the-art product and went through a week of intensive product training, sequestered with all of the new reps in New Hope, PA. At the end of the training, we were informed that we could now go out and do our seminars.

Seminars? No one ever told me that. I thought it was one-on-one sales. WRONG. Part of my job was to make presentations to architectual firms, engineering firms, development companies, and corporate clients like (gulp) Xerox and Hughes. With heart pounding and palms sweating, I managed to get through the first one. The second was easier and by the end of the first month, I could speak to groups of up to fifty and sixty people and manage to keep my lunch down.

Without being thrown into that situation, I never would have been able to ad lib, speak off the cuff and feel comfortable as I do now. So, I'm fully convinced that sometimes an unanticipated situation will bring out hidden abilities. I know it sure did for me...thank goodness.

More in my next post about how I believe family environment affects the person we eventually become.

MORGAN ST. JAMES
www.morganstjames-author
www.silversistersmysteries.com