Sept. 8 - Lisa's Musings (on reading, writing, but not arithmetic) and Every Day Life

OK, I admit it, I had to look up the spelling of arithmetic (twice) to make sure I'd spelled it correctly.

That's bad. But it pretty much goes hand-in-hand with my lack of math skills. We all have our strengths and I play to mine -- as much as possible.

The writing part is a no-brainer ... I'm constantly writing story after story after story after, well, you get it.

So, about the reading part -- I've been on a cozy mystery reading tear, pretty much reading a new book a week. The problem is, finding time to write the reviews. So, it's on the list for this week since I'm now four books behind.

Readers will soon be reading reviews of "Delicious and Suspicious," "The Last Quiche Goodbye," "Roast Mortem" and "Murder Past Due."

Since I began reviewing books for the papers, I've got a publicist on "e-mail speed dial" and all it takes is a request and voila, the books magically appear in my mailbox.

So far, I've managed to pick ones I've really enjoyed, so while videos are uploading, or photos downloading, or I'm while waiting for a meeting to begin, or if a meeting's really, really boring (but I have to stay for something later in the agenda) -- I'm not without a book in hand.

My editor is always asking me how I find time to read -- I'm an opportunist, what can I say?

And, thanks to my dear not-such-a-puppy-anymore Driver, I'm up at 6:30 a.m. many mornings, so the first two cups of coffee are drunk with a paperback mystery in hand.

When I hit the bed at night, that book is in hand and most nights, when my eyes begin closing, I'm still awake even to put the bookmark in it, turn off the lights then go right to sleep.

So, you might say I spend at least a part of every day reading and writing, while trying to avoid math.