The story of this little girl evidently being kidnapped was posted on one of my writing loops today. It checks out as true on Snopes.com, which has good information as to which of those rumors you get in your e-mail inbox are true or just urban legends. Poor kid. Though the passage of time since her disappearance makes the odds of her safe recovery slimmer than one would hope, I still hope she’s somehow found safe and returned to her family.

I came back from an appointment this afternoon to the sad and surprising news that Meet the Press host and NBC News Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert had died suddenly today of a heart attack. Not only is this sad for his family, friends and co-workers, but it’s also a sad day for quality news coverage. I was trained as a journalist and have worked at newspapers and a magazine, but in recent years I’ve become disillusioned with much of the news coverage and the “journalists” who deliver it. Granted, I’ve worked in the print journalism field and most (but not all) of my ire has been directed at TV journalists, some of whom I’d swear have never darkened the door of a journalism school.

Tim Russert was the type of journalist all journalists should be — dedicated, prepared, one who digs deep for the truth but who doesn’t delight in the discomfort or downfall of others (even if he was holding their feet to the fire), one who loved it instead of loving having their face on TV screens across America. It’s a little ironic that he came to his signature coverage of politics and politicians after working in the political arena. Maybe that’s what made him so good at it. He knew the tricks and talking points they used and didn’t let them get away with it when they faced off against him across the table.

And what’s really touching is that from all accounts, he was a genuinely nice guy, a wonderful family man, and a thoughtful and true friend. Not much makes Andrea Mitchell lose her composure, and she nearly broke down while talking about Tim on TV this afternoon. Same with many other top journalists who I could tell were struggling to share with the audience their memories of and respect for their colleague, their friend.

Yay! I’m thrilled to be done with my revisions to Heartbreak River. Of course, my Internet is down and I had to come down here to Panera Bread to send the manuscript back to my editor. Side benefit — dinner from Panera.

I went to my local RWA chapter’s meeting today. It was a casual meeting, on collaging. So I started work on a collage for my next YA book. When it’s finished, I’ll post a photo of it here.

How wild was it that a tornado hit downtown Atlanta? It’s really scary when a tornado hits such a populated area. I remember when the one hit downtown Nashville. The sky was this weird green color. My husband can see downtown from where he works, and he said the cloud looked like the mother ship from the movie Independence Day.

Okay, I plan to totally veg the rest of the night. I’m picking up dinner, and we’re going to watch The Bourne Ultimatum, which came from Netflix today.

I don’t know why, but I’m fascinated by the Top 10 lists that Yahoo does quite often. They are usually things like the top 10 environmental cities or the top 10 cities with horrible traffic. Today’s installment isn’t a list that no city’s chamber of commerce wants to make — America’s Most Miserable Cities. What makes a city miserable? Violent crime, high unemployment and let’s throw in a little toxic waste just for the heck of it. So which city tops the list? Looks like the Motor City of Detroit might have to change it’s name to Misery City.

The others on the list aren’t too surprising except No. 9, Charlotte, N.C. Charlotte mainly made the list because employment hasn’t kept up with its skyrocketing population growth.

If you had to place a city on the misery list, what would it be and why?

Merriam-Webster’s word of 2007 is W00T, a word I admit to using fairly often myself. W00T illustrates how pop culture (W00T comes from the world of gaming) influences language. Last year’s word was “truthiness”, a term coined by comedian Stephen Colbert on his The Colbert Report.

Just saw this article online. It caught my attention because I once did a report on Amelia Earhart in school. Is anyone else like that — always notice things about people on whom you did reports while in school? Marco Polo is another report subject from way back when. Anyone remember a TV mini-series about Marco Polo and his travels? It was on when I was a kid. Which of the Missing Wonders would you like to find?
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Tomorrow the second round of voting in the American Title contest starts. I would very much appreciate any votes for my manuscript, OUT OF SIGHT. Go here to read the information about the second round and to vote. Thanks!

This is one of the more unique marriage proposals I’ve heard of, but it’s romantic in that it took a lot of thought and planning and will be totally memorable.
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I’m still in holding mold, waiting to hear back from my editor on my chapter outline. I’m hoping I have her response (hopefully a “go ahead”) by the time I get back from a conference this weekend. I’m taking the opportunity to catch up while I’m waiting though — you know, paying bills, cleaning off the piles of stuff on my desk, cleaning, terribly exciting but necessary tasks.
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Anyone catch Heroes last night? What did you think? Do you think the boy who has taken an interest in Claire is a good guy or a bad guy?

I thought this was a cute story about a guy who started an online dating service for farmers.

My sister just sent me the link to a story about the latest business being outsourced to India — local journalism. Yep, stories about Pasadena, California’s local news will be written by two journalists living in India because the labor cost is cheaper. Okay, I can understand outsourcing in some instances, but coverage of local news? This makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. And, please, it’s not like local American journalists are rolling in piles of cash. Trust me, I’ve been there.

Yahoo has an interesting article online about the best nine places to retire young. I always love these types of lists. Since the hubby and I have always wanted to retire young, this is of particular interest. Okay, so I’m a writer and my job is portable and I’ll probably never “retire”, but as soon as the hubby is free from life in Cubicle World, it’d be nice to check out other parts of the country. Of the cities on this list, I’ve only been to two — Couer d’Alene, Idaho, and Charlottesville, Virginia. Both are in lovely spots — Charlottesville in the Blue Ridge Mountains and Coeur d’Alene in the upper part of Idaho close to Spokane, Washington. It’s home to probably the most beautiful lake I’ve ever seen.

What would be your ideal retirement spot?