Silly Stuff I Know...

What is the silly stuff you know? Do you know why tennis balls are fuzzy? If they weren't the game would be impossible to play. The ball if it were only rubber (without the fabric), would never stay on the court. See what I mean?

I'm one of those people who love to use silly stuff to start up conversations and get to know people. You might think this is useless space being used in my brain, not so. I've won many a prize, large and small with this "useless" information. Tell me this, why do cowboys wear their pants too long? Or one of my favorites, why do all children only want to eat bland or simple tasting foods? I'll give you the answers on Wednesday. In the meantime, post a question or little known fact back to me, I'd love to learn what you know!

Breaking News!

This week we're in Florida, and I've had two wonderful communications from the primary glove company we're talking with. The first was on Monday from the CEO. He let us know that the initial numbers were in and it's time to talk about how we want to structure our relationship. Awesome! How many inventors get to this point in the process all on their own?

The other one was from the VP of manufacturing for the same company letting us know the second round of prototyping is due in her hands today or Monday. She let us know that they made three versions of our gloves with the revisions from the first set. I can't wait until next week to see what we have and to start penning our deal.

I'll keep you posted!

A Glove Update

I spoke again with the glove company and it looks like things are finally moving forward. We have an appointment to talk on the 17th to run numbers and do costing. This is very exciting and even more promising is that the CEO advised me we would likely be in touch before then as the second round of proto types would be ready! Hooray!

Happy Birthday Riley!

Actually, it's a little belated, but my Mr. Riley turned 6 on Saturday the 4th.

Dave gave Riley to me for my birthday in 2002. He's as much the light of my life as any of my family and friends are. Happy Birthday Riley!

I Love That I Have You To Help Me.

Happy October to all!

Before we start, introductions are in order. My name is Dahlynn McKowen and I'm part of Kathy's IW team.

For reasons beyond her control, Kathy is unable to type and asked me to pen this column. When she asked me—no, begged me—to take on the task, she carried on over the phone for several minutes as to what was in her head and what I should write about. Then she asked me to "squish" it all down to something reasonable. I just smiled to myself.

Now for some editorializing on my end; "squish" is an appropriate word when describing one of my dearest friends in the entire world, but only when it comes to her communication via writing. She writes like she talks. Seriously. Now, now—there's no need to get defensive. I'm not picking on her. She agrees with me. When working on writing projects with Kathy, she'll put dozens upon dozens of paragraphs on paper to get to that one solid paragraph. She squishes it all together, and for a professional writer and editor like myself, all I can do is sigh, then grin, at her very unique style. Through lots of squishing and squashing, Kathy eventually pulls it off and comes up with an awesome piece of writing, to my amazement.

But I'm getting off track—let's revisit why Kathy can't type this entry. She and her horse Chance had "squishy" intentions that just didn't work together at the right time. While in the saddle, Kathy intended to move one way, and Chance the other. The result? Kathy was thrown to the ground. Chance was okay but showed immediate concern for his "person" (Kathy said he had a look of, "How did you get down there?"). Besides a concussion, bruises and aches all over, Kathy ended up having two surgeries in three weeks' time on her hand. The last one rendered her hand useless for a good while, thus this guest column.

Kathy wanted me to talk about myself and hubby Ken, but that's not my intention (to humor Kathy, pop into http://www.publishingsyndicate.com/ to learn more about us). My intention was to share my feelings about Kathy and the way she communicates with you.

Recently, she wrote a story for Chicken Soup for the Soul: Resolutions in which she told of her desire/resolution to not talk so much. But that would be a HUGE mistake. Through all of her intensity and all of the good and true words that cascade out of her mouth and soul each and every day, her intentions are beyond pure and simple. She talks because she truly cares. She cares like no other person I know on this planet, and her desire to make the world a better place is so completely evident in every thing she does. As our leader in our upcoming release of the Intentional Winning series of books, there's no one better to guide the way—as squishy as it may be some days!

P.S. Kathy didn't read this prior to posting. I love you, Kathy! :)

Happy Friday

I'm happy to report that though I'm having to be SUPER careful with how I use my right hand, I'm not in the kind of pain I was in with the first surgery. I've found that I can take the cast and wrap off while I sleep and when I am home, but really need the reminder while out and about in the outside world.

I know this isn't anything all that to read about, but hey, it's real life!

Seeing Dr. C

I get to see the new & improved Halloween style finger today. I'm going to take a picture of it because I'm one of those people who wants to see. I look once and look away. Then
I have to look again, more closely, really look, you know? My Aunt Jeannette is like this, too, only more. I think she'll even ask if she can touch! Laughing.

Hopefully I'll get the use of some of the fingers on my left hand soon. I'll let you know on Friday.