WAHOO! A couple of hurdles down...

My new BFF.

Okay, I know I've been MIA, but I've had good reason.  We've (really, I've) been busy trying to sell our house (no takers yet...) and have spent my valuable free time making nice with my vacuum and Swiffer rather than blogging.  Believe me, I'd rather be blogging...cleaning is waaaay down on my list of ways I'd like to kill a few hours.

In an effort to get my act together before the RWA 2011 conference at the end of June in New York City, I've been hacking away at my writing-related "To Do" list, which included bullet points such as, "make website," and "make a Facebook author fan page".  Both of these were enough to give me hives (not really, only in the figurative sense...I remain itch-free), because I, (1), have no experience building anything web-related besides this blog, which still took me about 6 solid hours and an awful lot of loud expletives to set up in the first place, and (2) while I am not hesitant about promoting my own stories and work and have even fewer qualms about promoting other people's, I always feel weird when I'm pushing myself.  Even worse was the designation "fan page," which made me feel kind of fake, especially since I don't have anything published yet.  But, not one to turn down something to make inviting people to check out my page easier, I invited my whole FB friend list, but still felt it was like, "Hey, "LIKE" my page, even though you have no idea if I'm good at what I do!"   I mean, I'm assuming I am...I've had good feedback so far on my works in progress, but it still felt awkward.  This is something I'll definitely have to get over if I'm ever going to successfully promote both myself and my work.

So, here goes.  *Warning! Brief Shameless Self-Promotion Ahead!*

Check out my Facebook author page here, on which I will try my best to interact with you all and post updates, teasers (when I have more written), and links to these blog posts for your enjoyment.  Please click "Like" once you get on the page.  My fragile self-esteem depends on it.

Also, I did manage to make a website.  It actually came out pretty good, but it still says it's under construction because, let's face it, I probably forgot something major on there and will catch it in the next week or so.  But all the links on the left work and go somewhere, so check it out and kindly leave me some feedback on it here or on Twitter if you get a chance.

Aaaaaand for good measure, follow me on Twitter!

***End Shameless Self-Promotion***

Okay,  moving on.  One more hurdle I've jumped recently (since my last blog post, anyway) is that I crossed the 10,000 word-count mark on my novella, The Curse!  While the number itself isn't really significant and I still have at least another 10,000 words to go if the story gives me that much, just moving into the realm of five digits makes me feel better psychologically, like, "I can do this!"  When I tipped over that word count, I felt like dancing like Sue and Mr. Shue.

Well, that's about it for today.  Time to get some quality writing in.

As a side note to my American readers, please take time to enjoy your family and friends this Memorial Day weekend, but also remember the men and women in uniform who served bravely and are no longer with us.

xoxo Sarah