I can already see the temptation of blogging is going to be right up there with chocolate, day trips to Santa Cruz, and all the shows on the WB. Maybe if I wasn’t working a fulltime job AND trying to write new books AND trying to promote old books, well, maybe then it would make sense. But now, it makes no sense at all. Of course I’ve never let that stop me before so why start now?

I do need to budget my time though and hope I can get in the habit of writing first thing when I am at the DDJ (dreaded day job) at 6:30 in the morning and still trying to wake up. (I am SO not a morning person.) We’ll see. I’ve never kept a journal for any length of time so here’s hoping this will be different. Better somehow. My journals were probably pretty boring. Hmm, maybe that’s why I never kept up with them. Must keep the reader AND the writer interested in turning the pages. What I’m really hoping is that this will help me break down some of the walls I put up between myself and the words I head in my head so that I can pour out what is real.

I almost called this Blog ” 1 writer, 1 dog, and a lot of books ” just because I liked the sound of it but Write On Right Now is really what I am all about right now. I want to write. I need to write. And I am willing to play whatever mind games with myself in order to make it happen.

Okay, one goal of this is to help me record my steps on the path to lead a literary life. I try to do one thing every day that will help me in my career. It might only be a little thing, like sending an email about a publicity opportunity or following up on an interview for an article, but I have to do something related to my writing career every day or I start to feel like I am going nowhere because the DDJ sucks all the creativity out of me if I let it.

My current project isn’t actually writing but a complete website overhaul. New, updated design, interactive pages, writing exercises, brave writing workshops and a teaching guide database to help teachers use books in the classroom. I’m running behind schedule but I hope it will be up by the end of May. (Hence the race now to get the Blog up and running too.) I need to be done by then so I can get to work on the publicity for my new picture book, Oliver’s Must-Do List, coming out in the fall. (Note to self: find a suitable venue for the book launch.)

Literary Life Steps for Friday 5/6/05 1. Worked on the website. 2. Got this blog back up and running. 3. Worked on interview questions for article due on reluctant readers (Hi/Lo books). 4. Worked on interview questions for article on teaching guides. 4.

I’m done for. Bed calls but I know instead of falling asleep I’ll be thinking about what I should have said in this post or what I want to say in future posts.

Write on, right now.

Previously posted on my original blog – Write on Right Now!