Yes...I'm Still Alive!!!

Wow, I just looked at the date of my last blog post and it was January 3rd!! Did I really let a whole month go by without posting here? One of the first rules of thumb for an author to maintain contact with readers and the world in general is to post on one's blog at least two or three times a week. But January for me felt like a marathon as I raced through each day, much like this gal on the right. She even has my blonde curly hair!


First, the ACFW Genesis Writing Contest for Unpublished Writers began January second, and I am the head coordinator for the contest this year. Okay, I can handle that and write, I thought. I was already up to 14K words on Love Will Find a Way, the sequel to Thyme for Love. I'll write in the mornings and work on Genesis in the afternoon.

Second, it was about that day--January 3rd--when my laptop went belly up and could not be resuscitated. I must state first of all, that the computer itself did NOT break. I broke it. I won't tell the sorry tale of how it all happened, but will say that I know just enough about computers and technology to be dangerous. I trekked off to the Apple store, convinced that one of the geniuses at the Genius Bar would work his "magic" and all would be well. Imagine how I felt when Mr. Genius said "The only option you have is to erase the hard drive and start over." Gulp. It was like sitting in the waiting room and having the doc tell you your loved one needed a heart and lung transplant.

After thinking it over, I opted to get a new laptop all together and donate the old one to charity, minus the hard drive which the organization would have replaced for a larger one anyway. Then I had the fun of rebuilding my email address book, files and other things because my backup system at Mozy failed to back up all the files and hadn't backed up anything for FIVE days! (I switched to a new backup company).

So, other than errands and walks in the unseasonably mild winter we're having, I have spent every day at the computer rewriting what I lost of the manuscript, processing Genesis entries and searching for Genesis judges for the second and final rounds. I didn't  keep most appointments other than what was necessary, or even think about blogging.

But now things have calmed. My address book is at a workable state, my manuscript rewrite is far better than the one I lost, all the judges have been recruited, and I'm baaaaack.

Tomorrow, I'll post the new releases from ACFW for the month of February. Happy New Year everyone!!!