Mastectomy Hospital Bill in Congress

The below was sent to me a few minutes ago and I wanted to pass it on.

If you know anyone who has had a mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery. It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important...please take the time and do it really quick!

Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill - Important legislation for all women. Please send this to everyone in your address book. If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times. If you're receiving this, it's because I think you will take the 30 seconds to go to vote on this issue and send it on to others you know who will do the same. There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the "drive-through mastectomy" where women are forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached.

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their web page with a petition drive to show your support. Last year over half the House signed on. PLEASE!! Sign the petition by clicking on the web site below. You need not give more than your name and zip code number. http://www.lifetimetv.com/health/breast_mastectomy_pledge.html This takes about 2 seconds.

PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your friends and family, and on behalf of all women.

A Case of Nerves

I guess it never gets any better. Every time I send something out to a publisher, I get nervous. I double check and triple check, then I'm still sure I missed something or forgot something or did something wrong. I entered the Harlequin Great American Romance Contest. You only had to send in the first chapter and a short synopsis, but I still got my normal case of nerves. (Smile)

The judges are HQ editors and the rules say that the potential winners will be picked by Feb. 8th and then notified by mail. Maybe even if I don't win or place, the story I sent will be strong enough to earn a request for a complete. That would be good enough for me. (Smile)

To anyone else who entered, best of luck! Even if we get no where, it was a free contest, the postage wasn't bad, and we at least gave it a try.

Happy Holidays and a Great New Years!

I didn't get a chance to post a holiday wish before Christmas, but better late than never. (Smile) And since I'm here, and it's almost the last day of the year, here's wishing you all a wonderful 2007! May all your dreams come true and you find no need for tears for the whole of the year!

Enter My Latest Contest

Time's almost up. The drawing is on November 30th...that's only two days away.

The prize is a fifteen dollar Amazon.com gift certificate. Just in time for X-mas shopping. (Smile)

All you have to do to be entered in the random drawing is to sign up for my free newsletter. You can find info about the newsletter and contest here... http://www.charlottedillon.com/Newsletter.html You can also join by simply sending a blank e-mail message to CharlotteDillon-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Once you subscribe to the newsletter, you are automatically entered in all other contests' drawings as long as you stay a member.

Best of luck to everyone!

Happy Turkey Day!

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to take a moment to wish y'all a very happy Thanksgiving. I hope you get to spend the day with those you love around you, with a warm roof over your head, and plenty of good food and fun.

I know all of you aren't in the US, but the same wish can go for you as well, just leave the happy Thanksgiving part out. (Smile)

Hugs,
Charlotte

Agent Kristin Nelson Workshop

Agent Kristin Nelson is doing a free workshop hosted at my RWC group. So, if you are a romance writer and want to take part, hurry up. (Smile)

To join, send a blank message to RWClist-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

There will be other workshops and Q&As coming up over the next year, all free for RWC members. By the by, RWC is free too. (Smile)

If you are a romance reader, I haven't forgotten about you. That's why there's the RRC group for readers. There will be some really good romance authors doing short Q&As there over the next year too. RRC is also a free group, and the guest authors will often be giving away prizes. To join RRC send a blank message to RRClist-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Oh, and yes, authors are as welcome at RRC as they are over on RWC. (Smile)

E-Mail Trouble again

Hi everyone,

This time the trouble isn't mine. It's Yahoo. If you use Yahoo for mail -- not Yahoo Group mail but Yahoo personal mail -- and you sent me a message and you are still waiting to hear from me, it's not me. I can't reach any Yahoo e-mail address. It seems Yahoo mail is blocking my ISP, BellSouth. I don't know why, but every time I try to send mail to any Yahoo address, BellSouth tries for three days, and then finally has to bounce it back to me. So, if you have sent me a message from a Yahoo address and are now wondering why I never sent you a reply, please send me another message and include a different e-mail address where I can reach you and I'll be happy to reply right away.

By the way, if you are using a Yahoo address and you are waiting for other messages that should have come but haven't, other servers might be blocked too, so you might want to contact anyone you were expecting to hear from who uses not only a BellSouth address, but others also, and just let them know you haven't heard from them and give them a second e-mail address that isn't a Yahoo one where they can reach you at.

My Desk is Under There

At least I think my desk is under there. The computer is sitting on something. But there are so many papers and odds and ends on my desk, maybe they are just what's holding the computer up.

I don't know how the top of my desk gets so messed up. I swear I just keep the things near to hand that I need the most often. Okay, maybe there are a few things that I don't need that often, but I do intend to get to them soon, so might as well keep them close.

Even notice there are a number of places in your home that seem to be the perfect catch all? I think every home has at least one, either the kitchen table, a coffee table, a counter top, and end table, ect... I guess my desk is just the catch all in my office.

Since I've had to shuffle and dig to find three things already today, maybe it's time to take a computer break and see if I can clear things out some.

Now let's see...where can I move things to? I hear the second catch all spot calling to me, and since I did just clear it off yesterday, no need to let all of that room go to waste. (Smile)

Reading Glasses

I finally gave in and admitted I needed glasses. A few months back I went to the eye doctor, and a couple of days later, I had my glasses. He said I only needed them for reading. I will admit I spend lots of hours a day either writing or reading, so I guess my eyes deserve a break since I am mumblemumble years old.

I thought reading glasses wouldn't be bad at all. I wouldn't have to wear them all the time. Reading glasses were surely better than the kind you have to wear from the moment you wake up until you go to bed.

WRONG!

They are awful!

I'm one of those people who usually has five things in the fire at the same time, so I'm almost never just sitting here writing or doing e-mail. I keep the TV in the room going and glance up to watch what ever, especially if I'm doing e-mail or working on my website. I have my desk in kind of a center spot in the house, so from where I sit I can see into the kitchen, into the living room, and even into my daughter's bedroom a little. Family members pop through and ask me this or tell me that, dogs come up wanting in and out, I lean forward a little and glance into the kitchen to see if I really did cook the flame out from under supper, ect... The same thing happens if I'm reading a book or doing paperwork or paying bills.

Well, with reading glasses, it turns out doing other things at the same time isn't as easy as it used to be. As long as I'm looking right at what I'm writing or reading, all is great with the world and my eyes hurt so much less. But...if I have to look up to see who is coming in the door, or to talk to someone, or even to see what one of the dogs is doing, or what's happening on TV, it's a whole other story. While the words look fine, looking any further away that a foot, means every thing just blurs out of focus, so every single time I look away from my papers, computer, or book, I have to lower my glasses. In my situation, that can be every couple of minutes sometimes. That means instead of typing on or trying to read on, I have to completely stop, lower or remove my glasses to see who or what I want to see, then when done, put the glasses back in place. Talk about slowing me down. I think it will be better when I just move up to the kind you have to wear all day. At least I'll be able to put them on and leave 'em there until I'm done with my eyes for the day. (Smile)

Update on My Book

I heard from my agent yesterday. The pitch worked. (Smile) My non-fiction book is with the editors at Random House Reference. Now it's time for more waiting. Keep those body parts crossed a little longer. (Smile)