Write on

Babble has been up and running, OK, trotting along at a slow, measured pace – for approximately 4 months now. I know what you’re thinking:

“Four months? I’ve been following this clearly delusional and obviously under-medicated woman that long? Dear Lord, I need a hobby!”

Yes, my dear virtual friends – four months of Babble, and still going, um, stable.

First, a big thank you to those who follow, feed, forward, comment and/or email regularly. Some days clicking the Babble Box - reading your hilarious messages – well – let’s just say it reinforces my belief child rearing takes more than a village – think greater Tri-State area.

Second, to the wonderful, talented and motivational writers out there navigating the murky literary waters alongside me; your words of encouragement, advice, and equally twisted minds have been pivotal in keeping me on course.  I look forward to listing your bestsellers in Page Turners, accompanied with the humble line note, “I knew her when…” J (Check out some of their blogs at the bottom of Babble’s homepage!)

Today I thought I would answer some of your questions: the good, the bad and the amusing.

“How long do you work on your posts?” Shirley S.

Well Shirley, I would love to tell you I take careful steps to weigh the validity, social relevance and informative nature of each finely tuned entry – in truth – I’m a fly by the seat of my well-worn sweat pants kind of gal; if I had to guess – no more than a half hour, or as long as I can hide from my kids. Rushing tends to leave my punctuation lacking and dangling participles in need a linguistic sports bra, but hey – there’s only so much time in the day; I squeeze in creativity where I can. The most important lesson for writers; keep writing – edit later.

“Is blogging just for fun or are you building a platform? And have you had any publishing success?” Jamey R. (A fellow - and very talented - writer! You go girl!)

Hi Jamey! That answer depends on your definition of both fun and publishing. J Everyone holds different criteria when measuring professional success. Some choose to write as a form of artistic therapy – a painting with prose on the simplest of creative canvases; others write to eat – I do both. I’m a newspaper reporter by day, so yes, I publish on a small scale in addition to Babble, however I have aspirations to complete a full length women’s fiction WIP; right now I’m in the editing, drinking, editing, drinking phase…you know the drill. (I toss in chocolate, often!)

“Do you have a favorite author or reading recommendations?” Dan B.

Big shout out to Dan – a man follower! Yippee!  The short answer is many; I read to breathe! In my profile you’ll see a list of some of my faves, but at the moment I’m devouring With or Without You by Brian Farrey. (I’m hyperlinking – fingers crossed!) And thanks, Dan – your follow tipped the heavily estrogen balanced Babble scale slightly into testosterone territory!

“What inspires you?” Wendy F.

Geez – that’s tough, Wendy. Inspiration comes to me in so many forms; family, friends, ridiculously inept politicians. The best answer I can give is this – an open mind always has room for inspiration. When we, as writers as well as humans close ourselves off to all the differences that make life interesting – our work, values and opinions tend to become very one dimensional. Even in my most Irish moments, (translation – emotional rants), I try and see both sides. I may not like the view – but my personal inspiration often stems from taking on an unfamiliar perspective.

OK – That’s it today gang! See you Monday – and again, my sincere and heartfelt thanks to all for the warm welcome to cyber world!