Cool Author Day

All right . . . sometimes, I have to tell you, being a writer ain't glam. (Particularly when I am in my pjs.) Sometimes you do a signing and get asked where the ladies room is.

But some days you get to do really neat things.

YESTERDAY, I got to Skype with this guy for forty minutes. Well, him and a wonderful class of 10-year-olds who all read Magickeepers. They were awesome and they were SO smart (!) --really, I think these kids might take over the world someday. Someday soon!

And Travis was as nice a man as he seems on his blog, just sweet and charming and kind and patient with those kids. A big Texan (6 foot four, and I know this since I was asked how tall I am) . . . with a big beart.

So today . . . I ask . . . what is one of the neat cyber connections you have made in the blogosphere?

And have an awesome day!

Guess What I'm Doing Today?

Well . . . she posted it on her blog. So I can't really keep it a secret.

I am meeting up with Marcia Colette today. You may recall that Marcia dropped by on the blog to talk about visualization as an author. She writes urban fantasy . . . and I think, judging by what she's been saying on her blog, that her writing is growing darker by the day. Touches of horror? We'll have much to discuss. AND we're going out to my favorite French cafe.

Anyway, I'll post of our visit later or tomorrow . . . but I have to say that when I started this blog 936+ entries ago (which means I am definitely closing in on my THOUSANDTH in the next two months or so . . . MAJOR party), I thought I would write into this echoing canyon of nothingness. I thought I might sell a couple of books. I thought I might sort out my thoughts on process. Along the way, the blog got to be a bigger part of my life, and it also helped me not only sort out about process, but about writing with four children and the challenges of being a full-time writer. But I NEVER expected to make so many friends. And not even qualifying them as cyberspace friends. I have talked to quite a few on the phone. I've even been mailed a peach pie (my fave) by this chick.

I've met a couple of friends who feel like old friends. Not old as in hag-like but old as in we must have known each other in another life. I've learned the Genius is actually full of optimism if you hit him on the right day. And that guy who's taking a break has a heart of gold. I would be remiss if I didn't mention my hero. You may have noticed I was a little absent on Boot Camp Day 4. I eventually caught up with you all, but not before a not-so-fun trip to the ER for Crohn's disease and several shots of morphine, not to mention dehydration and a racing, thready pulse. As they hooked me up to oxygen because my body was getting enough, again, thanks to pain, I thought, "You know, someone should find a cure for this f*cking disease." Then I remembered people like Brian have tried to raise money to do just that and it's humbling--because Brian and I have only met online.

I could list a thousand people. Spy, who helped me with my new website. Well, heck . . . I could be here all day . . . I have friends who are moms who write. I even have a friend in Mexico. Heck, just look at my blog roll because I really need to be getting ready to meet someone in PERSON.

So this is a thanks. A hello. A hot Saturday in my neck of the woods (feels steamy already) . . . and a note that the blog is really a great place with people who are so generous with their wisdom and time. I am very excited to meet Marcia. How cool is that?

What are you doing today? And how do you feel about your cyber pals?

755 and Counting

This is my 755th blog post, not counting ones here. Or here. In multiple places in the blogosphere over the last year, I have heard blogging called the ultimate exercise in ego. Thinking anyone wants to hear you blather on.

So as I started to post today, I wondered . . . why DO I blog?

First and foremost, it's to settle my brain down in the morning. I am sure there are writers of every different kind of brain pattern and madness. My own brain works at warp speed 24/7. The way Oldest Son thinks of prime numbers before he goes to sleep to calm his brain down and settle in for sleep, I pray at night. But even that doesn't work all the time. I struggle with insomnia--not falling asleep but STAYING asleep, and when I wake up at 3:00 a.m., it's nearly always with either worry . . . or story . . . in my head. By dawn, when I get up, my brain is already so revved up I need to get rid of the junk in my head so I can start the day calmly. So I pray again . . . meditate . . . and blog. Then I grab coffee and am off to the races at my computer.

This is an internal dialogue I have with myself. I don't prepare my blogs. I don't even think about them before I sit down. I don't write them the night before and edit them (hence the typos sometimes). This is just my head at dawn. I sometimes think it doesn't matter if YOU are even here.

EXCEPT . . . that I have always been a kid who loved mail. All my life. I would wait for the mailman with anticipation. It was only when I got to be an adult . . . and realized the mailman mostly brought bills that I stopped liking mail. When I was younger, my grandmother was nearly deaf and she had a speech impediment and didn't like talking on the phone. She couldn't hear anyway. So when I went off to college, the ONLY way I could keep in touch with her until she died when I was 30, was face to face--or mail. Since I went to school 8 hours away, mail it was--sometimes every single day . . . often two or three times a week. I loved writing her from my classes; my professors thought I was taking notes, but I was telling her all about college--an experience she never had. She would write back about her senior citizens center and what adventures they were having taking the bus to the Poconos. Her letters would arrive and . . . I got mail! To me, a blog is like mail. When I have comments, it's fun to read them . . .

And along the way, I made friends. I also have lurkers. I also have a lot of people who email me at my website but won't post here. One once said it was because the people who post are all so brainy. Speaking for myself . . . nah. Not so much. So you can comment. But yes, along the way, some of the recurring names have become real friends that I email or even talk to on the telephone. I've even gotten a call from Germany.

And in the end . . . it's also about my craft. This weird thing I do. This writing thing. This word-sickness I can't cure myself of.

So why do you blog? Why do you visit? Do you like mail?