Some of you may have noticed a month or so ago, this blog changed quite a bit. I ended up buying a domain name and then my Blogspot started doing weird things (it kept thinking I was in India for some reason). For a while I tried to work it out, but I could never get help from Blogspot and Liz and I googled around for a possible resolution, but to no avail.
So I started this blog. And, when I did that, I essentially left all my old posts back at Blogspot. Now I (and Liz helps too) have to manually switch them over, cutting and pasting, finding the same pictures to upload, because those can't just be cut and pasted. It takes time, which means it's sort of a slow process, and even though we've been working on it little by little, I still have 104 posts left to go. Apparently I was very prolific in those early months of blogging. So, you'll notice on the right-hand sidebar (underneath the book cover), there are the Archives. And, you may notice that there is quite a gap there, between May and September. See, I was working backwards to have it be more seamless. But that gets boring, and new people who click over won't see the earlier posts (which might help the later ones make more sense). Anyway, Liz moved over the first week last night while we were working on a song for the musical I'm writing. So, check them out if you have the time. We'll be adding more here and there, hopefully getting all of them up in the next couple of months. It's painful, but I guess someone has to do it.
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A few weeks ago, I posted about some health issues that I've been dealing with for over a year now. Well, I went back to the doctor yesterday to get the results of the latest CT scan that I took had on Friday.
And everything was back to normal. As in, the lymph nodes that were really swollen the last time I was there (that the doctor thought I might have to have surgery to remove) were no longer swollen, as well as the lymph nodes that have been slightly enlarged for the past year. The doctor seemed slightly baffled, but obviously pleased. Was it the antibiotic regimen? Was it the probiotics I started taking? Was it the many, many people who prayed so generously these past weeks? He wants me to see a gastroenterologist in a couple of months and then do one more CT scan this fall, just in case, but meanwhile, he thinks that everything may be fine. Whatever, it was, Liz and I are incredibly relieved, and also incredibly thankful to God and our Christian brothers and sisters who lifted us up in prayer. So, if you said a prayer for this situation, I thank you. I can't express properly how much you have encouraged our family. Meanwhile, I have a lot of blog posts and some interviews that are being published this week. This has kept me very busy and my mind occupied, which was probably a good thing. So, yesterday, I blogged about creating a fantasy world at Beth's Bemusings. This was a fun one to do and she also posted the various maps that I created during the years of writing Scar of the Downers. Yesterday also, I was on the Selling Books blog with an interview. Check that out if you want to know more about me. Then, today I'm over at Cathy C. Hall's blog writing about my experience working with WiDo, my publisher. They have a mission that I can get behind: "We publish books that are: readable but not formulaic entertaining without being fluff uplifting without being preachy literary but not obtuse, realistic and thought-provoking without being graphic– Above all, books that tell a darn good story." ************************************************************** Last night we built a fire and roasted marshmallows. It was a good end to an emotional day. As I stared into the fire and listened to my girls chattering and playing, I was very thankful and grateful for the blessing of good news. Today, I'm guest posting at All Things Audry on finding the creativity in the everyday.
On Friday, I will be at Writing Room 101 with a post about writing both scripts and novels. Also, last week I wrote a blog post for Mari's CreateWriteNow blog about my story of how I used to be in Law School, and my journey from there to writing. Check that out here. And then, a fellow WiDo author, Elizabeth Maria Naranjo, published her review of Scar of the Downers on her blog. She wrote the very cool YA fantasy novel, The Fourth Wall. Next week, I'll have five guest posts or interviews and one more review, and I'll update the blog accordingly. Meanwhile, it's finally warmed up here and the snow's all melted, so we're trying to get outside as much as possible! I realize that I have been neglecting this blog lately, and it’s because I’m guest writing for other blogs as part of a blog tour for my book. This week, I wrote about my book cover for Renee’s Pages, and next week, I’ll be on one blog writing about finding creativity in the everyday and on another one I’m guest posting about screenplay vs. novel writing. These are great opportunities, and I’m thankful for them, but to be quite honest, I only have so many blog posts within me to write. So… this blog suffers. However, there’s also a lot of other things that have been going on - on the forefront, last week I finally got an idea for a play that I want to write. Actually though, it’s a musical, and I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on where I want to go with it now. I’ve written a few songs in the past, and up until now they’ve been just hanging out in my head or on my computer, but now I have a place to put them. I’ve written the first scene and I’ve already plotted out the main things that will need to happen, and I’m remembering how writing a play (compared to novel-writing) can be more instantly gratifying. It just doesn’t take as long to get out the first draft of a play. Revising takes longer, obviously, but due to the nature of a play, you just don’t have as many words to physically write down. After all, you’re just writing dialogue. You think of action and sometimes you have to write some of it down, but most of that is handled by the director in the rehearsal process. Some people have said that I need to be working on the second book to Scar of the Downers, and they’re right. I have been working on it and I will continue to do so. I had been writing that book at a good pace, but then suddenly last week, around chapter 6, I just kind of stalled out. I mostly know where I want to go, but I’m not sure how to get there. An idea is a tenuous thing. It can be there one moment and gone the next. I’ve had a lot going on and some stress lately and it just shut my imagination down for a moment. When you are an unknown author, you have to keep reminding yourself that the whole selling books thing is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s going to take time for people to find the book, read it, decide if they like it, perhaps write a review or tell a friend about it. It’s a one book, one person at a time kind of thing. Also, there’s the question of whether or not I’m going to have to have surgery to remove some lymph nodes. That situation has been weighing on my mind as well. It’s distracting at times, to say the least. Then, there’s this girl: It's hard to believe our oldest is now ten. Happy Birthday, Katie!
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