The Secret Life of Wishful Thinking by Lindy Dekoven

Available on Kindle and in Paperback

I just spent a week with four amazing women.  Kenzie, Gemma, Brynne and Sarita.

There's nothing that makes me smile like a good book.  And "The Secret Life of Wishful Thinking" by Lindy Dekoven is a winner.

I happen to believe that nothing is by coincidence and this book gave me hope that women can truly be good friends and support each other. Even though it often doesn't feel that way.

I chose it for my book club's selection this month and it's a real "feel good."

Sometimes you just need to end up in a happy place and know that you're not alone.  




A humiliating incident four years ago cost Kenzie Armstrong her pride and her marketing career, but now she’s making her way back at a run-down racetrack where she’s charged with increasing attendance. After a chance encounter with a storefront psychic, Kenzie begins secretly wishing that the fortune teller’s far-fetched prediction will come true.
Her best friend, Gemma, an outspoken extrovert and dreamer, has her own secret wish—finding the true identify of her biological father. But is it worth the risk? And at what cost?
Brynne is a powerful and bossy horse owner at the racetrack, with a seemingly perfect family and Bel-Air mansion to match. But her world is full of dark secrets, many of which threaten everything she has.
Sarita, a track coordinator by day and Goth singer by night, bristles under the expectations of her traditional Indian family. Underneath it all, she secretly longs for their approval and acceptance of her chosen life.
The Secret Life of Wishful Thinking is a warm and humorous tale about four women who forge an unlikely and supportive bond—and have the audacity to dream. (from Amazon.com)

It's March Madness Time - How Are Those New Year Resolutions Working For You?

Wow - where did the time go?

I had such big plans.  I was going to revert back to more paper instead of less paper (in the form of planners, calendars and the like), I was going to have all my work files "color coded," update ALL of my bosses' contacts in Outlook, make my workspace more "fung-shui-ey" and bring my lunch at least three times a week in 2015.

I looked up and it's already time for the office "March Madness" pool.

Looks like the only thing going mad these days is me.  With the ever-changing role of the legal secretary, a higher attorney/secretary ratio and longer commutes due to transit systems that are off-schedule, broken and other "unforeseen" obstacles, my resolutions are about 1/10th of the way complete.

Thank Goodness for Daylight Savings Time which means that I will have a couple of extra hours of light to get in some chores at home after work.

Who am I kidding?  I will just have more light to see all the things that still need doing.

I'll Take the Blame for That! The Proverbial Scapegoat

Is it just me who feels like the secretary is always the fall-guy/gal?

What about attorneys who wait until the last minute to meet deadlines?  When was the last time you heard one of them say, "Hey, Susie, that's my mistake.  I should have looked over that agreement before vacation?"

Don't hold your breath.

And there's something that many secretaries, yours truly, inevitably do and that is to take the blame even when it's not our fault. 

It might have something to do with the fact that we need to keep our jobs.  And the customer (i.e. attorney) is always right.

I'm really working on not internalizing it all.  Which is super hard for me to do.  Even though, I may know in my heart of hearts, it's not my fault, there's something about the way (women especially) are raised to shoulder the burden of whatever goes awry.

Thank God for all the wonderful vendors who have provided me with a nice collection of stress balls over the years.

Nothing Helps Me Overcome "Writer's Block" Better Than A Good Mystery Read

Long time, no blog.  I feel terrible.  It's already February, and I haven't posted one thing this year.  

It's just that whenever I got ready to sit down and write something, nothing really inspired me.  

I mean, I could babble about the "New Year" and "Resolutions," and "Eating Better," and "Better Work Habits," etc. but it just didn't feel like a "blog post."

However, nothing gets my creative juices pumping like a good mystery.  I just finished reading "The Cinderella Murder" by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke.  Confession:  This was my very first Mary Higgins Clark novel.  I have, of course, read several of Alafair Burke's books and love her.

Now, I'll add Mary Higgins Clark to my list of "guilty pleasures."

I mean, face it, when you work in this business under such intense, fast-paced and stressful situations, who doesn't need an escape?

I promise I won't stay away this long again!

Happy Hump Day!


In a first-time collaboration, “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark partners with bestselling author Alafair Burke to deliver a brand new suspense series about a television program featuring cold case murders.

Television producer Laurie Moran is delighted when the pilot for her reality drama, Under Suspicion, is a success. Even more, the program—a cold case series that revisits unsolved crimes by recreating them with those affected—is off to a fantastic start when it helps solve an infamous murder in the very first episode.  *From Amazon.com

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Or, Maybe Not

Okay, it's holiday time and you know what that means.

Office politics and more office politics.

Do you or don't you gift the boss?  Even though your boss makes about 20 times your salary - or more - is it appropriate to reciprocate with a small token?  That is presuming that she gives you a gift.  But that's another post for another day.

Do you or don't you gift your co-workers?  And would that include your cubicle mate whose loud perfume sends you home with a headache every day?  

Are you expected to attend the holiday party?  Even if you don't really want to see Suzy get on the table and sing karaoke while she's three sheets to the wind.  Should you skip it this year because last year you mistook the boss's husband for her son?

Do you give in to temptation and eat every holiday cookie, cake, lunch and dinner that's offered in the office or do you stick to your guns and call on your inner strength.  This one is a 'no-brainer' for me.  I'll take "cookie" for 500.

Do you decorate your cube like a giant gift box or do you simply opt for a small bow in order not to offend any religious beliefs?  

Whatever you decide, good luck because I can't help you.  I'm still trying to figure it out for myself.

Fa-la-la-la-la.

Are Legal Secretaries Being Stretched (and Stressed) to the Max?

As the role of the legal secretary evolves, it seems that more and more assistants are being asked to do things that used to be the responsibility of other departments within the firm.

Because most/many/all of the younger associates do their own typing (when is the last time an attorney dictated a brief for you to type?) and often don't know all the ways to utilize their assistant's skill sets, we're moving farther away from secretarial "duties" into the realm of accounting, billing, paralegal work, you name it.

Not that I'm complaining.  I am very grateful to be gainfully employed and I'm willing to do whatever is asked of me.  But, often I feel that I'm not able to give as much attention to tasks as I have in previous times, because I'm constantly swapping hats.  

Preparing binders used to be "billable."  But as clients became more and more legal savvy and hired teams of in-house attorneys to check and double check everything the law firms bill for, there are fewer tasks that fall into the "billable" category.  And those things get passed down to - you guessed it.

And there is no such thing as one or two or even three attorneys per secretary - the average these days seems to be one secretary for every five attorneys and that has been extended, at some firms, to ten to one or a "pool" of secretaries with no assigned attorney at all.

To be honest, I don't see things changing any time soon.  I also see a whole new crop of younger men and women, and increasingly men, who are recent college graduates with ambitions of a legal career stepping into legal secretarial roles at a lower salary than a "seasoned" secretary.

So, what happens to the seasoned secretary?  She/he either continues to take their multivitamins, sharpen their skills set, learn new ways to work and get with the program or. . .let's not think about that.

All Day And A Night by Alafair Burke

If you didn't get a chance to read this book over the summer when it was released, put it on your fall list of "things to read."  Alafair Burke's most recent novel doesn't disappoint.  You will want to read it, "All Day and A Night."  Another winner.  Got secrets?

"The latest story dominating New York tabloids—the murder of Park Slope psychotherapist Helen Brunswick—couldn’t be further from Carrie Blank’s world handling federal appeals at one of Manhattan’s most elite law firms. But then a hardcharging celebrity trial lawyer calls Carrie with a case she can’t refuse. Anthony Amaro, a serial killer convicted twenty years earlier, has received an anonymous letter containing a chilling detail about Brunswick’s murder: the victim’s bones were broken after she was killed, the same signature used in the murders attributed to Amaro. Now Amaro is asking to be released from prison.

Carrie has a reason to be interested. Her older sister, Donna, was one of Amaro’s victims. Determined to force the government to catch Donna’s real killer, Carrie joins Amaro’s wrongful conviction team with her own agenda.  On the other side of Amaro’s case is NYPD
Detective Ellie Hatcher, who, along with her partner, J. J. Rogan, is tapped as the “fresh look”
team to reassess the investigation that led to Amaro’s conviction. The case is personal for
them, too: Ellie wonders whether they got the assignment because of her relationship with the lead prosecutor, and Rogan has his own reasons to distrust Amaro’s defense team.

As the NYPD and Amaro’s lawyers search for certainty among conflicting evidence, their investigations take them back to Carrie’s hometown, where secrets buried long ago lead to a brutal attack—one that makes it terrifyingly clear that someone has gotten too close to the truth.  ("All Day and a Night" )"