So, I haven’t been blogging… again…

And you probably didn’t even miss my ramblings, because “you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone” really only refers to chocolate and rain. Not to verbose writers who ramble only sporadically.

I’ve wanted to blog, I truly have, but life has gotten in the way. As usual.

I didn’t even manage to publish the “yay! Your book is here!” post for Troy Aaron Ratliff’s horror novel Do I Bother You At Night. And I promised him I would. (Forgive me, T-roy?)

{<—- if’n you wanna see this little pics a wee bit bigger, just click them; you can also go visit my #PhotoADay2013 album on Facebook to see a large version of each individual image}

The chaos I’ve endured ~ and, you could also say, created in some instances ~ over the past six (six!) months (and yes, I know full well that not blogging for even two weeks is a no-no) included:

• A move, which seemed to never end. (I’m 100% back in Atlanta! Yay!)
• A new job (I’m mauling molding young minds in the Communication Department at Georgia State University for the 2013-2014 school year).
• Reconnecting with old friends (you all know who you are, including my “dead sister” {that was our Halloween costumes; we’re not entirely morbid}).
• Making new friends (you know who you are, soul sister of another mother, father, and generation!).
• Attending a concert by one of my favorite musicians ever, Griffin House (I was such a fangirl I could barely speak when I met him after the show).
• Losing my reading mojo, then getting it back in a bad way in January (thanks to the brilliant B.J. Novak and his book One More Thing: Stories and More Stories).
• Health issues (ugh).
• My 20-year (*20 year*!!!) college reunion (how did we get to be so old?!?!).
• Meeting Paul Simon (yes, that Paul Simon) and poet Billy Collins and attending FOUR amazing events at Emory University to hear both of them (thanks to the above new friend).
• Meeting sci-fi author John Scalzi (and telling him that when I first starting reading it, I didn’t like his book The Android’s Dream, to which he laughed and said he heard that a lot) and meeting author Joshilyn Jackson on the first night of her book tour for her new book Someone Else’s Love Story (and she stole my pen) (but I told her she could keep it) (and here’s my review of the book) (go get it; I LOVED it).
• Writing reviews (as usual).
• Fighting the demons of depression.
• Taking photos (270 for the #PhotoADay2013 challenge; them photos up there at the top of this here post are from last year’s challenge) (so far I’ve taken 12 this year; I decided to make it a #PhotoAWeek2014 challenge instead).
• A little bit of writing (not enough, of course, tho you can read a few things I’ve written on Jeff Tsuruka’s #MWBB – Mid Week Blues Buster Flash Fiction Challenge).
• Some editing (but not enough; I had to tell some people I couldn’t edit their babies).
• Promoting authors and artists and causes near and dear to my heart.
• And sadly, losing someone dear to me, suddenly, unexpectedly, merely one week ago today (grieving is exhausting).
• And… every day life. All the millions and trillions of little things that have to be done to keep life going. Doing laundry. Filling the soap dispensers. Cleaning the kitty litter. Picking up cat- and dog-fur bunnies. Grocery shopping. Putting gas in the car. Etc.

But, as I’ve said before, writing is my first love. And I’m so committed to getting back in the writing habit, I’ve signed up for the A to Z blogging challenge, which means a post every day but Sundays in April, with the first topic starting with the letter A. (Am I crazy? I must be crazy.) In a few days, I’ll tell you more about it and my blogger friends I strong-armed recruited to participate.

Hope you’ll stick around for the ride. And the ramblings. I’ll do my best to make it worth your time. If nothing else, it’ll be interesting!

dS