Seven Months Later

Seven months ago, blogs and blogging were a mystery to me. Now I can say that I have embraced this medium wholeheartedly. I love putting my own thoughts "out there" and I love "eavesdropping" on other peoples' thoughts.

I have tried to be honest. As honest as I can be in a public format. Like I said in my very first blog, I would die if someone were to read the journals of my youth. The musings of my adulthood are not quite as dramatic or heartbroken. Then again, I have purposely NOT blogged on a bad day. Maybe that would be a good exercise sometime. For now, I wanted to take a look at how my goals for the year are coming along.

I said I would write 100 pages of fiction for my novel this year. (October to October - my birth month) Well, that hasn't happened yet. Not one page. But my friend Joel and I have started a writers' group. The fiction writing is still on my radar. It is still a goal.

I said I would write 2 short stories. I've written one 10-page short story!! And it felt wonderful. (thanks, Joel) I feel like it gave me the fiction bug. Makes those 100 pages seem less daunting.

I said I would blog regularly and find other outlets for my non-fiction writing. This goal is on schedule too. I have blogged somewhat regularly and it looks like I will be writing a column for our church newsletter, The Branch, about the blogs of our parishioners. More to come on that as it materializes.

I said I would play one writer's night by my next birthday, which would mean playing my guitar more. My heart races as I write that one. Maybe if I was actually playing my guitar and practicing my singing..........sigh. I did see my guitar teacher, Ellen Britton, in Kroger's dairy aisle last weekend. She absolved me of "working up" all my old stuff and gave me permission to move on to the new stuff. And she raved about Elizabeth and thanked me for sending her. Elizabeth WILL be doing writers' nights before long! I give myself a "needs improvement" on this goal! I'll keep you posted.

I said I would write 3 songs by myself. I did start a song. Lyrics and melody. It's stored in my "garage band" to be revisited later. This goal still seems doable. Since I've been writing a lot lately, I'm becoming aware that I have more melody sensibilities than I thought I did. Ellen (the guitar teacher) used to always tell me, "Julie, you don't have a guitar problem! You have a confidence problem!" Indeed. That applies to many areas of my life. But I'm getting better. Right, Kirsten?

And then things happened that weren't on my list. All pleasant surprises. The North Star Media Film & Television deal. Finding out that I have over half the songs on Julianna Cole's new record. (You'll be hearing about her. She is up and COMING.) Writing with Phil Madeira. Feeling a little bit of new life breathed into my country song-writing career. I am learning to expect the unexpected. In a good way.

Seven months later, I am still trying to find the balance between being Mark's wife, Syd's Mama, a country writer, pop/rock writer, non-fiction and fiction writer. I don't always do the balancing act as gracefully as I would like, but I am happy to say that, for now, all the plates are spinning.