I’m not much of a reality show watcher but two caught my eye this season: The Jackson Family Dynasty and One Big Happy Family. Now that they’ve ended their seasons, I’m left feeling sad for one family and inspired by the other.

Sad. The Jackson Family Dynasty left me feeling sad for the brothers. Their lack of maturity and self-awareness was stunning. They’re all older than me (I’m 50) but their words and actions reflected a much younger, and less-developed, mindset. While several moments in the show disturbed me, the moments that stick out are the ones with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. When Tito and Jermaine first met with them, the award-winning producers asked them what their sound was. The brothers had no answer. Jermaine may have blurted out something like “we want a hit.” That exchange showed how lost the four brothers are as a group. They don’t even have a vision or purpose for their music. All they have is some vague notion about carrying out the family legacy, which is really Michael’s legacy.

In Sunday night’s final show, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis put a similar question to them: How do you answer the question, Where is Michael? Of course, the brothers didn’t understand the question. Jermaine said something about, “he’s in our hearts” and the other three agreed. As Terry Lewis said in his commentary, the brothers need to understand that they’re not carrying on the Jackson 5, they’re starting a new sound with four brothers. Until the brothers recognize this, I don’t seem them doing anything productive as group.

I have some sympathy for the brothers because it must have been difficult living in Michael’s shadow. That said, it’s time for them to give Michael his props. Michael was the greatest entertainer of all time, not The Jackson 5. They’re not Michael and can’t carry on Michael’s legacy but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for them. But first they have to accept reality. If it was hard making a name for themselves in Michael’s shadow when he was alive, I’m afraid it’s going to be even harder now that he’s dead. I advise them to listen to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. It’s all about the music. If the music (and not stardom-seeking) is their focus, they have a chance.

Inspired. One Big Happy Family left me feeling inspired. For one, the family began to see the results of their lifestyle changes in the form of weight loss. Most of all though, I appreciated what they showed as a family. Home has to be a place where you’re accepted and loved unconditionally, and that’s what their home was. If you watch Oprah enough, you’d think a family this big would have all sorts of self-esteem issues. What I saw was a reasonably well-adjusted family who ate too much and moved too little. Why do I say they’re well-adjusted? They talk to each other. The wife works and the husband is a stay-at-home dad. They live in a nice home and seem to have a comfortable life. The kids seems to have their heads on straight. I was pretty impressed that the son loved to swim. I was equally impressed that the daughter was in the flag corps at school. Why was I impressed? Because these activities are not normally associated with fat and obese kids. Had they been brought up in other families, they may have shied away from these activities because of self-esteem issues. But their parents encouraged them to pursue the activities. I can’t wait for the show to resume in the summer so that we can see how things are going with this family as they continue their weight loss journey and the daughter gets ready for college.

I’m taking a break from new blog posts until the new year so I don’t have an original Newlywed at 50 post this week. For your reading pleasure, I point you to a blog that I enjoy reading, Life After 50. I really enjoyed (and could relate to) her post on Couple Dating so don’t miss that one.

Enjoy the holidays and keep safe! I’ll be back with new posts on January 4, 2010.

I admit it. I’m a bad blogger. When a lot is going on with me, I don’t blog. When I have time to blog, I don’t have anything to say.

If things work out as planned, I’ll be blogging again in the New Year. Some of the subjects I’ll address are life as a newlywed at 50 (yes, the hubby has agreed I can do this) and my recent contract negotiations. Both are pretty juicy so stay tuned.

In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving. Take care of yourself and remind the folks around you how much they mean to you.

During my interview with RAWSISTAZ on the Sins of the Father virtual tour, I was asked about a movie version of the story.

If Sins of the Father was turned into a movie who would you cast to play your characters?

Denzel would play Abraham, Angela Bassett would be Saralyn and Whitney (the old Whitney) would be Leah.

After seeing the first day of the two-day Oprah interview with Whitney, I’m convinced the old Whitney is back, older and wiser. I think the interview is must-see TV so if you missed the show, please catch it HERE. Whitney’s openness was refreshing and I think what she said will speak to a lot of us. I know it spoke to me.

By the way, I’m more convinced than ever that Whitney would make the perfect Leah. What do you think?

I’m up over at the Avon Romance Blog today talking about my career journey. I’ve shared much of this before on other blogs so it may not be news to some of you.

Since I’ve been so focused on the blog tour the last couple of weeks, I wanted to make sure you all knew about the SORMAG Online Conference that was held August 23 – 29, 2009. I was fortunate to participate in three sessions, two of which were archived:

Writing with a Day Job. This was a great session with a lot of interaction. People were honest and supportive.

Meet the Mainstream Author. This was a great session as well. More light-hearted than the Day Job one, but still a lot of fun. Six mainstream authors participated, one a NY Times bestselling author. You’ll have to go to site to find out who was there.

This was a great conference. There’s something for readers, new authors and advanced authors. If you missed, be sure to check out the archives.

I’m blogging over at ReadersRooms.com today. My topic is characters and I’m using Stringer Bell and Avon Barksdale from the HBO series, The Wire, as examples. Let me know what you think.

Join me over at ReadersRooms.com on Friday, June 12 where I’ll share my ideas on story ideas and how we get them.

I’m still enjoying the new NBC show, Kings, but it’s in trouble.  It’s been moved from Sunday nights to Saturday nights, the place shows go before they are cancelled.  I’m really disappointed that the show hasn’t garnered much of a following.  Some cool things are happening:

• Abner, the head of Silas’ army, has turned on him, but Silas doesn’t know it yet
• David is more committed to Silas than ever
• Silas’ son finally admitted the reason for his hatred of David
• Silas misses the girlfriend he gave up to save his son

I’d like to see where each of these storylines end. I hope I get the chance.

Like many of you, I’ve joined a great many of the online social networks — myspace, shelfari, librarything, gather, and shoutlife. I’ve joined all of them but I haven’t been active. I’ve also tried to be a regular blogger here, but without much success. You know why? It’s too much work.

Facebook is different. Facebook is easy. All I have to give Facebook is a status, which is by definition short. I don’t have to add a picture to it to make it look better. I don’t have to go to a special page to do. I can post to Facebook from my iTouch.

I’m leaning towards focusing my efforts on Facebook and this blog while phasing out my presence on those other sites. What do you think? Which service do you like best? Where are you most active?