Blogging

OK. New resolution....I will update my Blog once a week. Promise!! Cross my heart and all that.
Here's my dilemma, I don't know how to let other people know that I have a blog, and who would be interested in reading it anyway? I mean, really, I'm not that interesting. Not even to myself.
It's Spring in the Ozarks. An absolutely amazing time of year. All those trees, flowers and bushes that looked like dead sticks have leafed out, bloomed and turned all shades of green. It is such a transformation. No wonder the ancients equated Spring with re-birth and renewal. Things I planted last year, that I thought maybe were dead, have come back! Mable and Martha (tiny maple trees), Reginald (my rhubarb) and all the gladiolas and canas that had completely disappeared. What a magical time. Oh, yes, I do name my plants. Most of them anyway.
Does the young man's heart turn towards love in the Spring? Not sure. From what I've heard lately, the young woman's sure does. So, (I'm just guessing here) would the young man's as well.
Isn't that lovely? Probably why the species continues, huh?
I'm in the middle of two projects, one a nonfiction book on travel and one the sequel to my novel. I haven't been very disciplined lately (must be the Spring). I have to buckle down and get things rolling. I'm looking at about 30 reference books for my travel book. It's rather daunting, but I have to dig in there and start. Wish me luck!

Learning to be an "Author"

Writing a novel was easy......getting published is an entirely different story. (No pun intended). One gets an idea, makes an outline (0r not) of what might be a story, words flow from your mind to your fingers and the saga is born.
You fall in love with your characters. They become your bosom buddies. They do and say everything you want them to. You created them after all. You love every word you have written, thinking it all perfect. This form dementia makes editing rather difficult.
You can dream anything up and they will do it. You are living vicariously through the persona you have produced. Ah, the power of it all!
After much re-writing, friends proofing (and hopefully giving buckets of praise and kudos) and then it's time to send your baby to agents and publishers.
Get the wallpaper paste ready......you're gonna have a wall full of rejections.
Developing a thick skin is part of your own personal transformation. Never before have so many said such negative things about you.
But you still have those glowing reviews from your friends to sustain you.
Lo and behold....one day, when you least expect it, a publisher deigns to put your words in an actual book!
Glory of glories.....you have become an author!
Now the work really begins. First, getting the word out to everyone you know, ever met, nodded to at Walmart and passed on the street.
Waiting for the one day that you will get an actual Royalty Check.
Money in your hot little hand for the labor of love we call writing.