Before I lose more time...

I wanted to post a quick entry. I didn't get here last night because I went to my writer's group but I'm beginning to question if I should continue attending. The last three meetings have consisted of three of us, which doesn't allow for much feedback. The coordinator also has copies of articles that she passes around and we all take turns reading paragraphs. I can read on my own. I'm looking for help writing. I'll give it another couple of weeks and see if more people join or come back, and if not, I might look elsewhere...

Meetup.com is a website I checked out in search of other area writing groups. It offers a huge array of interests for those looking in their community and surrounding areas. I found a couple of other writing groups in nearby towns and if things don't improve, I may check them out.

I'm having a tough time tonight. I'm writing this on the laptop, so I'm on Firefox and this is so small, I can hardly see it. Plus, my modem and router are f-ed up and I keep losing my internet connection. I think I'm going to call it a night.

I'm back

***Note*** I created the following post last night (3/16)...wrote, reviewed, edited...etc., etc. until I was satisfied enough to punch the "publish" button. When I did-nothing happened...The little circle timer thingie on my computer was going round and round until finally, an ERROR message showed up. I couldn't post the damn thing. My unedited post came back. I have no idea where everything else went. It was even stranger when I found the edited version on Google Reader, exactly as I wanted it to be. Went back to my blog. Nothing. And this morning, it's disappeared from Google reader as well. So following is the mostly unedited version of my work from last night....is someone trying to tell me something????


This is bad. I haven't been here since March 1 and today's the 16th. The frustration with my laptop was subsiding until just now, when --oh, never mind. I'll get it. I did figure out that the reason I can't get my page to look the way I want on the screen is due to Firefox. It won't give me full screen viewing which kind of screws me because I transferred all of the stuff I wanted from the desk to my laptop, and almost all of it was done on Firefox. When I finally concluded the program might be the problem, I removed it from the computer, but then none of my stuff would open. Now I need to figure out a way to get everything from Internet Explorer so I can see the full view. It's so time consuming...

My poor blog...the longer I stayed away, the harder it was to come back. (Hmmm-sounds like what I hear in the rooms of AA after someone "goes out." I'm sure a shrink would tell me there's a connection there someplace.) It was like I was afraid. One night I was rearranging and trying to organize files on the laptop desktop (??!!) and there was my Fledgling Author icon staring me in the face, but I tried not to look at it. I could almost hear it calling me..."Come baaaaaack, come baaaaack...." Well. I'm here. It took me a few weeks but I'm ready to get going again.

I need to get going again because while I was away, something REALLY GOOD HAPPENED. And it won't happen again if I don't keep practicing. Let me explain. In January, I entered a writing contest through Writer's Weekly. They give you 24 hours to come up with a story after they send out a mass prompt. Then you wait six weeks for them to get back to you. Not you, personally, but to receive the mass email naming winners. And...of all the contestants, I received an honorable mention!! I was PSYCHED!!!! It felt so good to see my name on that list. So what if I didn't get first, second or third prize? MY NAME WAS ON THE HONORABLE MENTION LIST!! WHAHOO! Could it have had something to do with writing on a regular basis? Maybe, and now I have the first thing I can put on my resume....

So. That's the reason I needed and WANTED to get my butt back in this seat. Feels good. I missed being here...