Hello Old Friends!
Yes, I’m here. Life has gotten complicated (my husband is ill), forcing me to drop the online course, Beginning Writers Workshop. The main reason for this was that it was getting too successful. My enrollments kept going up, and, well, you can imagine responding to 60 candle descriptions every day for two weeks. Part of this is my own fault. I really liked working with everyone. I kept trying to limit responses, cut back on the scope of assignments, and hire help. But none of this worked. I couldn’t keep up. So I have kept the two other online courses–Effective Business Writing and Writing Essentials (a back-to-basics review). They’re easier to keep up with. I’m hanging in, still working. Ed2go offered to buy the content of Beginning Writers Workshop, and the offer was a good one. But I said no. (You don’t sell your children!) Instead, I am revising the course into a workbook. It needs at least two more revisions and then we’ll see how publishing goes. Amazon is the easy option, and I may go that way. If I do, I will email everyone to let you know it’s available. I thank you ALL for how you helped me revise that material until it was as helpful as I could make it. To answer Gullible’s question, yes I got tired of John and Martha, but only to the extent that John’s name is now Bert. Martha is still her feisty self. If you’ve taken Writing Essentials, you will have found that she shot John in the toe and had to serve time. (He was having an affair.) She trained in jail to be a firefighter. She just keeps on going. Other news: I put my other novel (prequel to The Glory Rites) up on Amazon. It’s called The Old Powers. It’s a good read (paperback or Kindle), and since I’m stubborn, there are no dragons or magical creatures in either. (Okay, there is a sorcerer or two.) The good guys are flawed, and the bad guys at least have understandable motivation. Between the two novels, it gave me a chance to examine the fuzzy lines between magic and religion and also humanism and the urge to power. I miss you all! We’ve had a lot of fun. We even had roller skating parties with famous literary figures! Here’s hoping I can climb out of my many ruts and keep this blog alive. Let me hear from you!