I have lots of excuses for why I haven't posted here in awhile. Lots. There's the "my neck went out" excuse. Then the ever trusty "my computer crashed" excuse, to boot. Then there's the less commonly used "We found an ant colony living in our electrical power strip" excuse. Weird, but true. So now that we've gotten excuses out of the way, we can just be here--you and I--together, sharing the trauma and joys of being a writer. Otherwise known as "Are you fucking crazy?"

Well, yes and no. I think that perhaps I have written off Hallmark-ish cliches for too long, and now it's time to start adopting them. Let us being with, "When one door closes, another one opens." This is my oblique way of letting you know that I have officially given notice at work (albeit, it's two months notice, but still...). And as I sat facing the gaping maw of the future, wondering if I was crazy to think that little ole me could pull off something as large as writing for a living, things have begun to sprout. There is the out of the blue editing gig that came indirectly via my stepmother, which looks very promising. There is the desired result, after sitting through two interviews, for a job with a startup magazine that I wasn't sure how I would work out, but knew I wanted to be a part of (I wanted a freelance position)...they've decided I would make a perfect freelance contributing literary editor, doing interviews and profiles. It is such a good fit for me and I am so excited. There is the column for the Petaluma Argus-Courier and other improved connections with new writing outlets...and I've tallied up all that I'm owed for projects already completed and I've already earned my first "paycheck" for January...

Things are okay.

There's the situation with my being now non-agented of course...but I think I'm just going to put my heart back into one more solid revision of my most recent novel, despite its having been shopped around a bit, and seek a new agent very soon. I thought I was going to begin a new novel but I realize that until I see this process through to the end, I'm silly to expend all that energy.

This is all to tell you I am back on my horse, if I ever truly fell off... Can you believe it? Positive words from me?

It's true folks. It's utterly true.