Let the Writers Dance!

The new lineup of Dancing with the Stars contestants released today. The better known cast members include Donny Osmond, Melissa Joan Hart, Macy Gray, Aaron Carter, and former House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Throw in there a model, some athletes, a couple more models, a chef, a bit of this, a bit of that.

But no writers.

I don't get this.

John Grisham. Stephanie Meyer. Tom Clancy. Jodi Picoult. James Patterson. Dan Brown.

All of these well-known names. Maybe slightly lesser known - Jennifer Weiner, Meg Cabot, heck - Don Miller. My point it, any one of these people are better known than, say, Joanna Krupa or Ashley Hamilton.

And a lot of these people are pretty entertaining. Meg Cabot has a hilarious blog. She loves reality TV. Perfect fit!

Not only that, but most writers could stand to get a bit more exercise. We sit and type all day, most days. What could be better than getting around and moving, while wearing sequins?

DWTS needs to be careful. Writers tend to retaliate when slighted -

Of Bikes and Ballrooms

Danny and I started our Intermediate Ballroom class last night. We took ballroom through the Hosanna dance studio all last Spring, and with a bit of chatting, Danny agreed to continue this fall.

Class starts off as usual, we discover we remember more of the foxtrot than we'd anticipated. Our fabulous instructor shares her plans for the class, and we agree that it's better to look smooth on the dancefloor and less like Cloris Leachman. (Of course, none of us are in our eighties, so if we did look like Cloris, there would be a problem).

Anyway, we're learning how to do inside and outside turns out of promenade position, and our instructor launches into a short lecture on proper head position, and the fact that we need to keep our heads up and pointed in the direction we want to go. If we look down at our feet, we'll become unstable. We go where we look. The eyes are the body are connected.

Danny and I had heard all this. We'd heard it in our motorcycle class. Had it nailed into our heads in our motorcycle class.

I never would have imagined, but it's true; there are similarities between Ballroom dancing and riding a motorcycle.

If only the shoes were similar too.