Dear Friends:
It seems that it is 2008. Funny that. I’m just going along, writing, mothering, and drawing… and planning conferences, submitting manuscripts, researching agents, job hunting, developing adult ed classes… that another year has come and gone. It is true that 2007 was a busy year and I’ve come a long way but it was not as fruitful as I’d hoped. Looking back on my 2007 journals it seems that some goals never seem to be complete. I keep saying I’ll write the first two chapters of my non-fiction but never do. My Roar book is a like a millstone around my neck. I keep revising and reworking getting farther from the original vision of the book.
What a downer. Who wants to read that? Okay… 10 highpoints of 2007!
1. The awesome feeling of possibilities when I started my novel for JoNoWriMo.
2. Fall Folio Feast 2007. Third time was a charm. Great speaker, great event and I was relaxed enough to enjoy it.
3. Volunteering for Meals on Wheels. I love what I do there and it makes me feel great.
4. New Friends and old. The schmoozes at Tami’s, the amazing LJ community, Botherhood 2.0, (The Project for Awesome was indeed awesome!)
5. Go SOX! Go Patriots!
6. Proposing classes for adult ed and being accepted.
7. Being asked to direct the NESCBWI conference and getting to know Janet and Francine.
8. My family is healthy and happy. My boys are growing into very nice people that I like to spend time with. My parents and siblings are well.
9. The satisfying feeling of doing interviews for various projects.
10. Travel up and down the east coast and through NY State that allowed me to see people and places I don’t usually see.
11. (Okay 11) I read A LOT this year and loved it.
Hope that is better reading for you. Finally, a question. What do you think of getting and MFA in Writing for Children? Is it all for the experience? Do the contacts and crits help you get published? Or do you feel that the experience made you a better writer and THEN you got published?
Creative Chaos 