Caught the Bug

It's decided. I think. I need approximately $28k to do it, though. That's a little more than half my salary. It's more than most people without a college education make in a year. It's more than I would pay to replace my car with a newer model (but just barely).

Making a baby is making me work harder than ever to build my bank account.

I got a promotion at work this week. I will be the head of the English department starting next year, so I'll be in charge of about a dozen other teachers, their schedules, evaluations, curriculum implementation, bookkeeping, and SO many other responsibilities I don't even know about yet. Yikes. Unfortunately, I'll be taking a pay cut.

Because I cannot handle both this new job AND cheerleading, I have to say goodbye to my girls. This makes me sad... sort of. I'll miss some of the best young ladies I've ever met, but I won't miss the drama and the crazy basketball schedule from December to March.

So now I've caught the writing bug. I'm determined to finish the book I've started and to work harder at sharing my work with my friends - especially my "reader" friends. I don't expect to write a best-seller right out of the gate, but that's where my friends can help me. I value those honest opinions, the critiques and the suggestions. Most of all, I need encouragement. I have never finished more than a short story because I am so damn critical of myself.

So far I've published a short story and the first 6 chapters of my novel in progress. I'm editing as I go, so what I need most is answers to problems I foresee:

1. Are my characters and setting consistent?
2. Is the back-and-forth of the timeline confusing or does it work?
3. What is missing - details the reader needs that I am not hitting?

Any suggestions or constructive criticism is valued more than you could know, so please check out my other blog, entitled "Scribblings." You'll have to read the older posts first to get the full story.

Thank you, friends. I hope you'll enjoy what I've written so far. My plan is to post at least a chapter a week.