Today is first official day of summer vacation. The children are sleeping late and preparing to wage a full scale attack on the refrigerator and the television. Which means we have made no specific plans for the summer -- again. It seems that I don't think about summer plans until summer gets here and by then ... you know the rest. Bummer. We'll probably make a few trips to the local theme parks and water parks. The beach is always fun. We'll work it out.

I woke up this morning and had to convince myself that it was a good idea to get out of bed and go to work. I reminded myself that the kids needed to eat and it would be nice to have some clothes and paying the mortgage is always a good idea so I got up. All I really wanted to do was finish my coffee and bagel, get dressed and work on writing my second novel. If I had known as a twenty-something what I know as a forty-something I would have pursued a writing career back then.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda ... a little too late for all that. I have published one novel and I've contributed to many other publications so my dream has not been denied. It's just not how I thought it would be.

Why do people feel the need to do things the hard way?