Back in the Blogging World Again*

In an effort to crank-start my blog, I have joined a few of my fellow writers from my writing group, Write On Mamas, have agreed to commit to writing one or two blog posts over the next month, and then visit each other's blogs and comment. 

Quite by chance, I had a fabulous, clever and witty new post spring effortlessly into my head during my morning meditation two days ago. I often do this, have amazing and creative ideas when I meditate, along with devising massive To Do lists and obsessing over family members and wondering if they would appreciate my wise counsel and 'helpful' suggestions. My Buddhist nun sister says this is called 'Monkey Mind'. Charming! But also pretty accurate. My mind, when I ask it to sit quietly and think of nothing, jumps from one thought branch to another like a chimpanzee on crack. No wonder I have not yet morphed into a creature of zen calm and wisdom.

Anyway, I obviously could not remember the incredibly funny and brilliant post from my meditation, as I am now a 'woman-of-a-certain-age' and have the memory span of a pissed goldfish, so I am going to have to think of something else to write about. Damn.

The reason I have not written a post for over a year is because it was taking up too much of my time and attention, and meant that I was not writing my memoir, which was the whole sodding point of starting a blog in the first place. To 'build my platform' as all the  marketing gurus will tell you, is essential if you want to get a publishing contract, which, of course I do, so that I will be become rich and famous and have people swooning over my magical prose and hysterical hyperbole (I just learned this word from my new critique partner). The problem is that I am too easily distracted. It's bad enough with emails and Facebook and constant interruptions from my family, but add a blog to the mix and I am well and truly done for! 

The good news is that I used the time not-blogging to actually finish my book! Yay! The bad news is that it is just the 'shitty first draft' as Anne Lamott is fond of saying, and I am now deep in the throes of re-writing and editing it. Still, I am feeling encouraged as I can almost see the light at the end of a very long, demanding, and extremely dirty tunnel. 

I am hoping that I am now disciplined enough to be able to manage a blog, as well as editing my book. We shall see. In the meantime, I should probably decide what exactly I am blogging about!

Here are my fellow Write On Mamas blogs if you want to pop over and say Hello:

Meagan Schultz

Janine Kovac

Jilanne Hoffmann

Vicki De'Armon - One Mother's Edge

Emily Myers - Happy Day You

(* Just in case you are not a David Gray fan, this is a play on one of his songs: Back in the World Again. Clever, right? But only if you are a Gray fan, otherwise it would have gone completely over your head, hence I am explaining it now, which is never good, right? Perhaps I should change the title …)