HELLO Hello hello...

That was me, listening for the echo that is surely going to bounce back when I send this post out into the blogosphere. I keep making all these promises about getting back into blogging, and never make good on them. Shame on me. :(

But! I have a good reason. This little creature entered my life a few months ago (We'll call him Beastie Baby...BB for short). :)



He's the most amazing little person ever! I won't say this year has been the easiest for our family. My husband and I both lost our jobs two weeks before BB was born, I had to adjust to being a new mother (which was hard, but I think was more difficult than it would have been had we had an income), and we moved back in with my in-laws to avoid becoming homeless. Yikes. But from all that stress and hardship, some amazing things happened.

I learned that my husband and I can handle anything. We fought. A LOT. And it sucked. A LOT. But we're getting the hang of things now, with the baby and with finding work, and things are running more smoothly. I'm so, so lucky to have someone incredible by my side, someone I know will stick with me even when things are the roughest. Trust me, it makes all the difference.

The most important thing, though, is this: I started writing again. With all this free time I have now, why the heck wouldn't I go back to writing? And I went back to the story I abandoned last year, and I love it. I realized that all this time, when I thought I was writing YA, I was actually writing middle grade. I've embraced that, and I feel much happier with writing in general, knowing that my voice fits better in middle grade. Funny how stepping away from something and coming back to it can make all the difference. Of course, CPs help as well, and I wouldn't trade mine for anything. :)

I'm going to try to get back in the habit of blogging at least once a week, and making sure that I take time to visit YOUR blogs too! I did that today, and boy, have I missed reading other people's blogs...

How has the year been going for you?

J