Reese's and Racing

I admit I haven't always been a NASCAR fan. As a Charlotte native, there were two camps: love it or hate it, and my family was in the latter. However, when I moved to my little apartment years ago with no cable, Fox was one of the only channels I got, and I started watching NASCAR. Their coverage and the fact that (from the apt. balcony) I could hear the cars racing at Lowe's Speedway, well, I learned it's a lot more than just driving in a circle.

These days I am a full-fledged fan, so I was thrilled to get an opportunity last month to interview top-tier driver Kevin Harvick and his wife DeLana! A short jaunt to Kernersville landed me in the middle of high-performance vehicle dreamland.

The Harvicks have located their headquarters here in the Triad, and I was fortunate to be part of a tour of their amazing facility. I got to walk past Trucks just back from a Saturday race -- the paint on the front hoods burned off mostly through road rash -- and I even got to pet the shop dog! The couple was gracious to spend a little time with me, and I enjoyed talking with DeLana about her role with the business.

Look for the couple's profile in the summer edition of Triad Living magazine. Meanwhile, I'll be cheering for Harvick in the Race to the Chase, especially since his staff gave me a goodie bag filled with Reese's cups and Mr. Goodbars. I am always a sucker for candy.

The Fire Swamp Middle of the Fiction Project

It has happened. I have officially hit the middle of my journey to finishing this big work of fiction (big for me since I've not written a full-length manuscript before), and I have as much to go as I have done. This is the official quagmire section of the project, where I must be careful and not lose my way. I also must not give up, although R.U.S.S. fill the forest, including those called "Never Going To Finish," "Too Tired" and especially "Is This Any Good?"

See, up to this point, I could have abandoned the project, telling myself that I just couldn't write that many words, or the story was too thin or perhaps that I was so busy with the non-fiction writing that it got put on the back burner to be stirred another time. But now, no, those options are no longer viable. Honestly, I have to finish this, have to see it through, and most days, I enjoy settling into the world that is taking shape. But the road ahead is excruciating, not for the writing, but for how long is left to go.

It feels like that part of the drive to Key Largo when we get on the Florida Turnpike below Daytona, clicking off toll booth after toll booth and still never getting all the way through Miami to US1 and the first glimpse of blue water. But we do, we do get through it, and usually in enough time to see the sunset over that blue water from the deck at Snook's.

So I trudge on every day, clocking in the word count and advancing the story. And mixing examples from The Princess Bride and my drives through Florida. Hey, it all makes sense to me.

Sad to see them go

As one who writes for magazines, I love reading them, looking at the layouts and, often, checking who is on the masthead. One of my recent favorites, Domino, published their last issue this month. I am sad.

I was definitely Domino's target, a woman (youngish) who is interested in good design in all aspects of life (Those of you that remember my bedazzled shirt, pipe down back there! Being interested is different than actually following through). The travel sections were always cool, I loved the room makeovers, and generally, I loved the writing style. But no more to my mailbox ...

We've been hearing a lot of the phrase "in these times" lately, but publications in general have always come and gone. Still, with the death of so many newspapers as well as the slicks, well, tis trying times indeed. Just wanted to mark the passing of another worthwhile publication.

Publishing update

The article on the Dutcher's work with wolves has published. Check out the wonderful layout and photos in SEWE's special section, published by The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C. Seems like the annual wildlife celebration was a great success again this year, and the Food + Wine Festival is right on its heels, starting in a couple of days.

Unfortunately, my little desk was devoid of tickets to either, but assignments are another matter, so I am happy sitting at my desk, with a spring snow melting in the front yard and another adventure around the bend. For a dose of culture in the home turf of the Triad, I covered a contemporary art exhibit at Wake Forest for the Greensboro News and Record's Go Triad. I feel strongly about the need for art no matter the economy, and it was great to find a gallerist who could speak on the subject so personally. I hope to write more about art for the publication in the near future, so stay tuned . . .

Iron Chef Interview

Anyone who knows me knows that cooking shows have always been a part of my life, from Yan Can Cook to Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. However, the 24-hour a day lure of the Food Network has made certain chefs big contributors to my entertainment, including Iron Chef and Food Network favorite Bobby Flay.

Flay and I got a chance to talk a couple of weeks ago when I interviewed him for a celebrity chef profile for the 2009 Charleston Food + Wine Festival official guide, and his persona was open and accommodating during our phone interview. After much coordination by multiple publicists, I simply got a call from him one day at an appointed time, and he just said "Hi, this is Bobby Flay."

We talked about a few subjects but mainly focused on hamburgers, the subject of one of his upcoming demonstrations in Charleston, and a passion of his that he has honed in his new Bobby's Burger Palace restaurants. His restaurants feature an option to "crunchify" any order (add homemade potato chips), but it is the word itself that I find almost as delicious as the concept. Since it's Friday, I urge you to find a way to "crunchify" your day! And you can bet that this great word made it into the final article.

Living with wolves

Late December and January have been a very busy time for me, but I have had the chance to interview some amazing people, the first of who were Jim and Jamie Dutcher.

This couple lives in Idaho (the first people I've ever spoken with who live in Idaho!) and for six years, they lived in a yurt observing a pack of wolves as documentary filmmakers. Six years. Six years with no running water or electricity in bitter cold. I was intrigued. When assigned this profile article, I must admit that I was prepared to speak with people who were a little reserved, a little like the wolves they had observed for so long, and perhaps, a little condescending to a person like me who loves city sidewalks and hates sleeping in a tent, even for one night.

But instead, Jim and Jamie were a wonderful interview. They were warm, conversational, and kindly educational about their experience, which they viewed with a healthy dose of humor. But through it all, their love of these animals and their sincere belief in their essential existence in our ecosystem shone through. I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with them and the time flew.

If you are around Charleston, SC Valentine's weekend, make a point to see the Dutcher's presentation of film and lecture about the Sawtooth Pack as part of the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition. If theirs is not a love story, I don't know what is.

Music to My Ears

Please understand this juxtaposition: a busy Kohl's, filled with people searching for bonus buys, half-opened packages of boxer shorts strewn about the shelves where they once neatly sat stacked, the murmurings of two women deciding whether "She" would like a purse, a toddler's screech at not being able to touch something, and meanwhile, a Tony Bennett Christmas song brokenly looping on the intercom with its only interruptions the called codes to team members to "report to registers" and "scan sector C;" my little desk facing the wall in its spare bedroom, the light from the computer the only late-afternoon glow on a gloomy day, magazines stacked next to my right foot, and "Me and Mrs. Jones", "Cuban Blues" then Poncho Sanchez grooving his hit "Watermelon Man."

iTunes have been a great gift to my little desk, and as I'm nearing the end of my gift cards, I'm hoping for a couple more in my stocking this year. The genius button has also been a boom, and my "Writing Music" playlist is the better for it. Now my little desk has a soundtrack all its own, far from the maddening crowd.