Monday, June 17, 2013

Happy Blog Birthday to Me!


ETA: Tammy Jones, your comment was the lucky winner according to my random number generator!! Thank you to all of you who stopped by to wish my blog a happy 8th birthday! Having such lovely readers makes the work of keeping this blog a joy. 


8th birthday cake, photo by Brooke Williams, used under a cc license with attribution

I'd have embedded a video of someone singing happy birthday but until the fallout from the recent kerfuffle about who owns the song settles out, I'll just post a picture of a cake and rely on all of you singing in your heads. :)

So 8 years ago today, I started this blog. My first, rather uninspired post is here. I had no idea at the outset, that I'd still be blogging 8 years later to the tune of nearly 1000 blogposts.

8 years ago, my kids were 9 and 11. I had a solo physical therapy practice, where I saw patients about 20 hours a week. I had started drafting my first novel about 8 months earlier on a dare from my husband and was coming into the home stretch for its conclusion. I wrote 'in the margins' of my life, in 20+ minute increments whenever I could squeeze them in between work and family responsibilities.

That was how I learned not to be at all precious about my writing routine. Whether it was quiet or noisy, alone or with others around, music or no music, at home or in a coffee shop, with a computer or a paper notebook, I could write.

In fact, I drafted much of that first novel both on paper and using my handspring visor and a fold-able keyboard. It was a workhorse of a device and served me well for many years. I still miss it. It didn't have internet capabilities, so no distractions, and the word processor program on it allowed for simple synchronization with Word.

8 years ago, in the throes of that first novel, I had only a naive understanding of publishing and thought for sure, that the Wings of Winter would garner me an agent and sell to a publisher. :head desk:

Yes. My first novel, written on a whim from an idea I had been carrying around in my head since I was 16. I knew next to nothing about writing novels. But I figured it couldn't be *that* hard. After all, I had been writing poetry and small stories since childhood and I had done plenty of high-powered technical writing in my profession, including papers and text book chapters.

It's probably a good thing I didn't know how difficult novel writing would be, else I never would have sat down to draft "Wings". Someday, I will return to that manuscript and write it the way it deserves to be written, harnessing the skills I've learned in 8 years and 8 novels.

It's fitting that this week, my 8th novel, DERELICT, will be going out on submission to publishers. It feels like a good omen and good timing.

So happy blog birthday to me.  And since birthdays ought to come with presents, I'd be happy to offer a trade paperback copy of my debut YA Fantasy title, THE BETWEEN to a random commenter.

Taking a cue from my blog-buddy Lynn Viehl, this is open to everyone on the planet (sorry, until we have mail delivery in space, I'll have to count that out!).  Leave a comment between now and Sunday, June 23rd, 11:59 pm, eastern time for your chance to win a copy of THE BETWEEN and a bonus prize of a hand made piece of ceramics, from yours truly, a amateur potter.


16 comments:

  1. Woo! Happy Blog Birthday!

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  2. Happy, happy blog birthday!!!!


    (It still looks so young!! ;) ) {{hugs}}

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    1. Tammy--I went to this random number generator site (http://numbergenerator.org) and your comment was the lucky winner!!! Yay!

      Can you please email me with your snail-mail address? Also, you get your choice of a handmade coffee mug or bowl. I can send you a photo for your to choose from, if you like.

      Thanks for helping to celebrate my blog birthday!!

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  3. Happy Blog Birthday!
    Wow, sometimes it feels like the years go by so fast...

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  4. Now I have a copy* of The Between in paperback, so don't enter me in the contest -- I just wanted to wish you a very happy blog birthday. The writing life may not be easy (ever), but the journey allows us to wander through creative places and meet and make friends who enrich us and remind us that we are never alone in this. Like you and the Muse. :)

    *Actually several. My daughter's friends kept borrowing mine so I got some lender copies. :)

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  5. Nearly 1,000 posts....that's an amazing milestone! I'm inspired by you every time I come across your posts on Google Plus. Congratulations, and best of luck with the publisher submissions of DERELICT!

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  6. Congratulations! It's a beautiful accomplishment. I found myself nodding along with this statement: "It's probably a good thing I didn't know how difficult novel writing would be, else I never would have sat down to draft "Wings"." I look back at what I've learned in the years since I started my first manuscript, and I'm amazed at how quickly the time has gone by, and by how much things have changed (and stayed the same). Congratulations on making the dream happen. So many stay stuck on, "Some day." You did it. That's a HUGE congratulations!

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  7. Happy Blog Bday! Thanks for sharing your journey with is.

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  8. Happy blog birthday! Novel writing is both more difficult and more fun than I imagined too. Congratulations!

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  9. Congratulations! Happy blog birthday :D .

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  10. Congratulations - I have just joined Google+ am very new in an old way!!

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  11. Congratulations and happy blog birthday! That's wonderful!

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  12. Feliz cumpleaƱos to your blog! 1,000 posts is a lot of work! And also a lot of fun. Keep on keepin' on. And congrats on the submission of DERELICT!

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  13. A milestone indeed! Congrats and happy blog-irthday!

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  14. Happy blog's 8th year! May there be many more ahead of you, filled with joyful writing hours!

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  15. Lisa - the great lady, I’ve been thinking for the last hour on how to wish happy birthday of your blog, how to say in words how much you mean to me, and how I hope that you stay happy all the rest of your days every day, just like you are today, how I wish that you remain blessed and never have to face any hardships or burdens in your life, how I hope that you have many more days filled with joy and happiness. Happy Birthday of your Blog my dear friend, I hope you stay happy all the time.

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