Easing Into December

I think I’ve decided that December’s water is cold, and requires slow and careful familiarization.  When we pulled out the Christmas stuff, we discovered that during the move the tree had been seperated from everything else and placed in the tool shed–which has since had twenty-million items added to it.  Sooo…this year we dug our

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know, I know, I’m getting a little ahead of myself.  But the blog will probably be neglected over the next few days, so I’m getting the well wishes up now. Here’s a few things I’m thankful for this year in particular: We came through the real estate bubble, carrying two mortgages in what is close

Discovering H.M. Hoover

Our library was giving a bunch of books away free, so of course I grabbed a big bag and dug in.  While I’m always on the lookout for new reading material for myself or the kids, I also had an alternative motive–get books that might get me credit on paperback swap! But amongst my gleanings was a

Cat Critics Weigh In

So, I finished the latest wip over the weekend.  Or, at any rate, the first draft.  I’ve kept the title, A Fool and His Money, which is unusual for me.  I also kept to the original outline, which is unprecedented.  On the other hand, it was about 3,000 words longer than planned–final word count a solid

What Does a Blog Do For Me as a Writer?

In the same post which anounced his quarter finalist win at wotf, Jordan discussed his take on the pros and cons of blogging as a not-yet-professional writer.  His general take, as I understood it, was that a blog of this kind is not worth the investment, and a couple of his points were that writers should be writing, not blogging, and that the number and quality of contacts kept and maintained through a blog at this level is negligible when placed beside the time commitment of maintaining the blog.

He had some valid points, and got me thinking, so I decided to discuss the subject myself.  It might be that the discussion belongs on my writing LJ, but since I see it as involving all of you, I’m going to keep it here.  The post’s also grown as I wrote, so I might try a series of sum-ups and cuts to make it easier to navigate and to keep those who don’t want to hear my oh-so-carefully stated arguments in all their gritty glory from falling asleep.

Not every writer is writing to an audience outside themself, and that’s okay, but I have always seen what I do as a craft and a business.  I am an artist only in so far as I can reach my audience, and that means I need to effectively capture their attention.  Whatever skill level I’m currently at, I believe my blog has helped me to grow and increase my abilities in this area.