Hey everyone! Hope your week is going well. :) I thought I should take a moment and talk about what the next month or so will look like on this blog.
Since I officially have someone interested in my books now, it's vital that I use as much of this last month and a half before school gets out to wrap up, refine, and rework my first book. As you can probably imagine, creating and editing a book is much easier when the girls are not home and I'm free from distractions. Even if that wasn't the case, I don't want to neglect my family while shooting for the chance to become a published author. It's going to take me a while to find that balance of carving out time for myself while still meeting my family's needs. Which is why I'm not exactly looking forward to summer just yet. ;)
Today I got 2,200 something words typed on my book and made great progress on my map. (Yes, my dear Kickstarter backers, I haven't forgotten you, and your maps are coming...I promise!) :} It was a great reminder of what I can accomplish when I sit down and discipline myself. Many writers I know would give anything to have the amount of free time I have.
So, because these next couple of months are crucial for my book writing time, things will be a bit slower here on Never Grow Up. My goal is to put up one "real" post (i.e. a post other than my "Hey, there's a sale on such-and-such's website!" posts) per week. There may be weeks where even that is a challenge, and I'll have to compromise with a quick "Hi, I'm still alive" post. ;) Please be patient with me. I don't want to waste this incredible opportunity.
I have a slew of draft posts I still have to sift through. I've waited so long on some of them that it seems rather pointless to publish them. Some of you might still find them interesting, though, even if it's not a doll or toy that's currently hot on the market. Maybe every once in a while I'll post the topics of three draft posts at a time and have you guys vote on which one you'd be most interested in. Would any of you enjoy that?
This week's post is in progress. I took a ton of pics for it tonight. Need a hint to tide you over? It's a Zelf-themed post. ;)
Next week's post will be a fun review (and giveaway!) of some adorable 18" doll clothes that were sent to me for review.
And for those of you who have been wondering, Tess and Maggie's last post is officially in the works, too. I'm a little frustrated with myself. I knew that continuing Jane Austen and Unicorns was getting to be too much, so I purposely planned on ending it last year before I started getting too far behind.
Ahem. Yeah, that was a brilliant plan. :}
Anyway, keep an eye out for Tess and Maggie's last post sometime this week. I'll miss "helping" them with their blog, but it's definitely for the best.
I guess that's about all for now. I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week. I hope to get caught up on blog comments tonight, and I'd love to tackle some blog emails this week too. Aaarrghh!! I'm so behind!
Talk to all of you again soon. :)
P.S. Random fun thing for the day. Emily at The Toy Box Philosopher blog did a really fun review today similar to my Strawberry Shortcake Through the Years post. She focused on Blueberry Muffin. I LOVED the fact that she included an actual blueberry muffin in the review. You can see her post HERE. Be sure to stop by her blog and check it out. :)
It's never pointless to publish reviews of older toys, I think. I would be still interested in them but maybe that's because quite a few toys you showed us here are or were not available over here. :) Once a week 'real' post could be hard, I'm happy even if it's just a short note with one or two pictures and thoughts. I love those 'babyposts' as much as the normal reviews. :)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your book! :)
I would enjoy reading reviews of older toys. I think it would be a good thing to publish them. The voting idea is not bad either. I wish you the best with your writing. Can't wait to read your book.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the input, gals. I'm not sure when I'll start going through draft posts, but I'll definitely keep your comments in mind. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement, too! :D I've made some great progress this week. :)
I think it's wise to focus your time and energy on both your family and your future prospects (the book), rather than blogging, and you shouldn't make apologies for it. There are only so many hours in a day and none of us can accomplish everything that we'd like to. I read/post on all sorts of web sites and forums, some of which are updated daily and others that don’t have fresh content for weeks, or even months, so, it doesn't really bother me if you don't have anything up for long stretches of time (if there isn't anything new in one place, there always is somewhere else--the internet is a nearly limitless reservoir of information/entertainment after all). Sometimes I don't add anything to my web site for weeks at a time either and I don't worry about it.
ReplyDeleteI also don't mind draft posts about toys that aren't hot on the market anymore, as older toys are just as interesting to me as current ones. Rather than voting for one or the other, I'd say just post them over a period of time, with obvious precedence being given to the ones that are the closest to completion and don't need much, if any, further rewriting/editing on your part.
And, on a final unrelated note, since I know that you like Dr. Who, here’s a link to an art project, that a woman at a crafting forum that I belong to recently made, that I think you’ll enjoy:
Did you ever wonder what the Doctor's closet might look like?
Thanks, Mark. I appreciate your thoughts. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I LOVE the Doctor's closet! :D Thanks for sharing. :)
Congrats on a successful writers conference and new book updates! Sounds like everything is moving forward for you and I wish you the best of luck in trying to balance it all. I know it can be difficult to keep up with blogging...trust me, I feel like I am on the computer each night when the girls go to bed, just catching up on everyone else's blogs, editing photos and putting together a post of my own as well. It is enjoyable, but a time-sucker for sure! I agree with Mark, though, don't worry about us..we'll all be here when the dust settles down in a bit!
ReplyDeleteOne more thing I've been thinking about lately...I was wondering why you don't really have any ads on your blog? Yours seems to be very popular and you write so well, I am sure you must have a lot of visitors! I see so many other blogs with ads (but to be honest, I really know nothing about the process) and you never know, you might be able to make a bit of spending money off of it! You are very talented and you would deserve it all. How about a donate button? I'd "buy you a cup of coffee" just to thank you for your great sales tips and reviews. :) I don't mean to imply that you don't know what you are doing, I was just curious. :} Hope you and your family have a nice weekend!
Add me to the list of people who like to read posts about older toys. It was pieces like that that led to me picking up the no-longer-available-in-stores Liv dolls, which I think are pretty terrific.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with everything!