Hello Again

Today at church, I was talking to a young mom who has a 4-year-old I used to teach in Sunday School. This mom is also a friend my oldest daughter knew in high school days. Somehow in the course of the conversation, she told me she has read my blog--but quickly added, "You don't write too often."

Oops.

Actually, I was shocked she would even read my blog. I type these words on the screen. I post them. And I expect maybe my children will read them.

This blog is really supposed to be about my writing. Okay, so I'm obviously not writing on my blog, bit I AM still working on that novel I promised to complete.

That should trump blog writing any day...right?

A Long Time Relationship

So while in Colorado surrounded by a fabulous mountain vista out panoramic windows in our friends' home, I reintroduced myself to the characters in the middle grade novel I'd started, well, almost 2 years ago. "It's me again," I said. "And this time I'm back till I finish your story..I promise!"

So like any relationship, I started out slowly...trying to get to know the characters again, reviewing our history, and thinking about how we can "move to the next level." This is going to be a long-time relationship, I hope, so I want to get it right!

And now I'm back home. Appointments, school runs, laundry, treadmill time, dinner planning, etc., etc. etc.

And no mountain view.

But a PROMISE I made to myself and those characters.

Sigh...

Back in the blogger saddle

It's embarrassing to see that the last time I posted was at the end of August. Where have I been?

Honestly, I really don't know.

But since there's no use looking over my shoulder, I'll now focus my attention on looking forward and trying to post more often. (Uh oh...that sounds a whole lot like a resolution.)

My daughter, Stephanie, gave me a very unique Christmas gift...my very own website designed in collaboration with an artist in her office. I'm still trying to get my head around having this--mainly because it signals to me that I really...REALLY must get back to writing on a daily (or mostly daily) basis to merit having this thing.

Most writers talk about going off somewhere...usually somewhere inspiring like the mountains or beach...to check back in with their creative muse. And since our family has been invited to visit friends who have a vacation home in Steamboat, CO this winter, I guess that means my muse is calling my name.

So I'll lug my laptop on the plane and listen.

I promise!

Blog block

So my daughter, Stephanie (aka: Queen of Quirky...see HER blog!) came over yesterday to help me set up a potential blog for our writing critique group.

She knew what she was doing. I did not.

She worked. I watched.

She tried to teach me things. I wasn't a very good student...although I tried.

She left. I tried to write to the other group members to report what "we'd" done. And alas, I had to call her to help me explain an issue with our domain name...still yet to be determined.

Ahhh...blogger block is not fun.

Choosing a Name is So Hard To Do

My critique friends and I are trying to come up with a HRL domain name for our yet-to-be created joint blog. After my solid research (!), I've found several of our favorites are already taken.

So we've worked on other combos...
gothamgirlswriters.com
gothamgirlswrite.com
ggwriters.com

This is our "baby," so we want to get it write...er, I mean right.

Look! Here we are...the GGs (Gotham Girls mentioned in my last post) "painting the town red" at the annual Saturday night bash at the SCBWI.

Where have I been? you may ask. Umm, doing other things other than blogging, including procrastinating about blogging. I had all these great ambitions to come back from the LA SCBWI conference and blog about the fabulous time I had with my two critique group friends, Emily and Sara--and all the tips I gleaned from the editors and authors. But alas, now that's such old news, it's embarrassing.

And get this: There were evidently people at the conference blogging THE DAY something happen. The nerve of those go-getters! (Trust me, I read some of their posts when I returned from the conference...after I did my laundry and a million other things that have nothing to do with writing.)

So...my new goal is NOT to procrastinate any longer. I WILL keep up with this thing.

But wait! Sara, Emily, and Betsy (the other member of our critique group called The Gotham Girls because Emily, Betsy, and I originally "met" during an online Gotham Writer's writing class for children's writers) are trying to start a blog.

OK...now I'm in blog overload.