My inner survivor is working overtime. I know how disappointed I'm sometimes when I visit somebody's blog and there's no new entry for a while. So I'll tell honestly, I'll need to take a month off blogging. I'll still check comments daily and try to bloghop sometimes, and will check my e-mails. I'm not dead yet. And hopefully I'll be back in a month, maybe earlier.

Thanks to everybody who'd been there for me. Lis, Bailey, Jerry, Marty, Claire, April, Cole, Rene, Kelly, many others. You mean the world to me. May life bring you joy, love, and wonder.

And my traditional question. What do you do to help your inner survivor, well, survive?

RWA Nationals didn't happen for me. This year it was so close to me, and I wanted to go so much, but... Oh, well. Luckily for me, there are some awesome notes from attenddees (sp?). For example, Mary has great posts - I especially liked the one on the agent panel. Romancing the Blog also has entires about the Nationals.

Actually, there's plenty of info online about the conference, but let's go back to blog hopping. Kelly Parra provides a linkie for a good advice - and post - from Diana Peterfeund. Cole gives away 2 autographed books by Caridad Pineiro and has a heart-breaking - and heartwarming - entry about a storm. Rene in Thirsday Thirteen blogs about 13 places where she likes to shop. What can I say? Any girl who likes Barnes & Noble is my kind of girl! Nell has a post about a haunted castle. Marty has several movie reviews and announcements about chats. Lis talks about her 13 fave Soap Opera Couples and asks a question abour RWA CD's. Michelle has lots of pics from RWA (fabulous!) and a post about her daughter (hugs to your girl, hopefully, she'll feel better soon).

What about you? Did you make it Nationals? What did I miss? And, remembering Rene's 13, what is YOUR favorite place to shop?

Do you ever follow bestseller list? When scanning through newspaper pages, I found myself looking up that list lately, just from curiosity. I also decided to try some of those books, though normally I don't like follow the crowd (okay, whom I'm kidding, I stand out if I want it or not). I mean, if so many people have read the book, there should be something about it, right?

Several times I was disappointed and read the book to the end only because I still tried to find out what everyone saw in it. But I did find an author that became an auto-buy for me - James Patterson, his Women Murder Club series in particular, and an awesome book Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult - it should be taught in Creative Writing classes to show how one should write. I read it through the night until I turned the last page. It's the book that makes you THINK. I like that kind of power.

The same goes for contests. Award-winning author is not necessarily a winning sell for me, but I'll pay attention. I've had enough disappointments there but also a fabulous find - any novel by Brenda Novak.

What else am I reading now? ALL ABOUT EVIE by Beth Ciotta and GRAFFITI GIRL Kelly Parra. What are you reading? And are those words "bestseller's list" and "award-winning author" influence your choice of books?

I love Fridays. It's even better than Sundays because then you know that the week-end will be over soon. Sometimes I probably like the anticipation more than the thing itself. I remember songs about blue Mondays and yellow Thursdays. I think I'd color Fridays into pink because then I can put on my pink glasses and expect better things from the world.

Thanks for your answers about e-books! I ended up with a bit of self-made book because I printed it out. But I was amazed by it. Frankly, I'm a picky reader, and this was one of those rare times when I could honestly say "wow". I was cautious before reading it because it was my first time travel. Somebody asked me what book it was. TIME FOR ALEXANDER by Jennifer Macaire. Lots of humor, action, romance, and very clever. And it touches your heart. I can never put down a clever book that also entertains me and pulls my heartstrings. I've never tried this genre or this author and didn't know what I've been missing out on.

So, my "deep" questions. Did you try to read outside of your familiar realm? What are you looking for in a book? What's your favorite day of the week? And in what color would you picture it?