No Excuses

Nearly a year ago, I was cleared to work out again after some serious ankle surgery. I gave myself a 'no more excuses' lecture on getting back in shape. And I followed through and am nearly at my goal of being physically fit (for my age).

Now I need to do the same thing with my writing.  Some of my writing friends are busy promoting their recent works and making a huge splash.  Take Stephen Tremp over at his Breakthrough Blog. I missed his big push on Monday but I wanted the chance to mention him here.  I loved Breakthrough and have his second novel, Opening, on my TBR.  I'll be getting to it before his third novel, Escalation, is released this fall. 

Others of my friends have been promoting their books through conferences and panel presentations like Cate Masters.  Check out some great info she shares on her blog about things she's picked up at said venues.

Alex Cavanaugh somehow keeps his very busy blog fresh and interesting while working on his third novel and dares to post his progress on this sidebar. 

I could list even more of my blogger friends who make no excuses.  They have day jobs, families, active blogs and busy online presences, and still get their writing done.  So my motto for the next few months is no excuses. No excuses.

Any excuses you can do away with?

Back in the Breach

I've been absent from the blogosphere for a while.  The reasons are many though most of them are more like excuses.  Things like my daughter's softball playoffs, the chaotic end of a school year, some days of good weather when I could actually work outside, an ill cat...you get my drift.  Excuses.

My daughter's team was eliminated from the state playoffs two days ago with a heartbreaking 3-1 loss to a very good team.  I still have three days of school but I have nearly all my paper work done.  Thanks to some help from my daughter, I'm getting caught up with the outside work.  The cat is still a problem. 

So no more excuses.  I'll be blogging 3-4 days a week again starting today.  Despite my excuses for being absent here, I know the real reason.  I was feeling down about my writing career.  I'm not entirely back on the upbeat trail now, but I'm not very good at quitting when things get rough.  It took me a few weeks to get over being angry about something and come up with a game plan to get my career traveling in the direction I want it to go.  More about the anger in a future blog.

I'll be around to visit my bloggy friends today and tomorrow.  I hope some of them will stop in here too.  Though I haven't been blogging lately, I have been working on my WIP and can see 'The End' approaching.  A few more weeks like this past week and I'll be ready to send it off to my favorite editor at NCP.

How long have you taken a break for blogging?  Did you have good reason or did you just need a break?