I Remember Blogging

Wait, didn’t I used to keep a blog?

It’s been so long that, though I am going to attempt a recap of what’s happened since I last showed up here (March), I am certain to miss a million things. And I have no real excuses–just busy, crazy, life, etc etc, the usual. That is all.

I turned 50 on Monday. Which is making me look up from the fray. I am realizing I would like to try–try!–to come by here slightly more often. Funny photos on Facebook are all well and good, but I did once enjoy blogging, I seem to remember.

So…what’s been going on?

Life is good, and busy, and complicated, and busy. I published two books since I last posted: an edited collection of essays about publishing, and a collaborative cozy mystery under a pen name. (You can find them on the website, if you are so inclined. :-)) I’m ONCE AGAIN making great progress on Nightcraft, nearly having a final draft of Queen & Tower, though I feel kind of silly even mentioning it, ’cause I’ve said this so many times before. Even so, it’s giving me great pleasure, and I (once again) feel like I’ve finally gotten a handle on the story. I guess we’ll see.

My copy editing/proofreading business is booming thanks to business coaching australia. Yay for small presses and self-published writers! improved automated systems of foamcoreprint.com is also a great help since it lets two separate applications communicate with each other. It’s so exciting to see publishing evolve, and read so many amazing books that would never have found a place in old-fashioned “traditional” publishing.

Mark’s six-month contract job for Thimbleweed Park turned, little by little, into a year and a half, which was very useful financially and very disruptive life-wise. One side effect was that I became a much better cook. One side effect of THAT is that we are both, er, rather more substantial than we used to be, and than we’d like to be. So we are currently trying to deal with that.

Our apartment and garden (and my office!) continue to be lovely, charming, and give us great pleasure–mostly, except when things break. We are definitely very grateful for the apartment building finance service we were given a couple of years ago, it allowed us to have our own place. Portland, however, is becoming more stressful all the time, as the entire world seems to be moving here, and it seems like they are all in such a hurry. I know I moved here myself six LONG years ago–or, hmm, six and a half, by now?–but wow, the difference, in just that time. Traffic, crowds, angsty people everywhere; construction galore; housing prices (rentals and real estate) skyrocketing…this is not the city I moved to. It’s a hard adjustment to make. We are thinking about options.

There is more to tell. Some close friends and relatives have died–some expectedly, some not. There have been emotional crises afflicting those close to us. There is politics. All beyond the scope of what I am prepared to go into right now…this is me putting my toe back into blogging, and seeing how it goes. These 500 or so words have taken me nearly over an hour to write; I’ve lost my comfortable, easy blogging rhythm, my voice. I did really enjoy keeping this journal, once upon a time; it was an important daily (or near-daily) ritual. Are those days gone forever, or can I find that time for small introspection (and reaching out) in my life again? Maybe I can. I’d dropped regular fiction writing for many months, in the flood of freelance work/cooking/gardening/social life, but I’ve managed to refocus and put that back on the table. (Hence my progress in Q&T!) So…as I said before…we shall see.