Sailing Through Summer

Wow! It's been awhile since I last posted, and I apologize. I can honestly say that I can barely remember the month of June, which was a whirlwind of end-of-school-year activities for my kids, one very special little girl's birthday, and of course, work!

Yes, my very lovely and inquisitive daughter Mia turned 10 on June 10. As cliche as it sounds, I really can't believe how fast the first 10 years of her life passed us by. I decided to also embrace this particular birthday for a different reason. I began freelancing after she was born and my career path was forever changed, for the better I do believe. It's been a roller coaster ride trying to juggle writing and editing jobs while raising two kids, but we make it work. I am happy to be at a stage in my life where I'm creatively fulfilled, earn regular paychecks and still get to be in the audience during my children's school plays throughout the year. I may not be rich but I'm definitely happy, and that's the most important thing.

Here's just a peek at what I've been up to this summer:

I contributed "How to Write a YA Psychological Thriller" to the latest WOW! Women on Writing e-zine. It doesn't get much better than getting the chance to interview some published authors you really admire!

I've written a few blogs for The Muffin and am working on my next one scheduled to run on July 10.

• When Fear Holds You Back
• Should You Self-Publish Your Own Work?

I've helped indie author Destiny Allison launch her blog tour for the novel Pipe Dreams through WOW! Details here. Congratulations, Destiny! (Review to come soon).

You can also find an interview with me in the Behind the Pages section of Lake Norman Currents Magazine's July issue (I'm on page 9). It was fun to be the subject of an interview for a change!

Also, I've been working diligently on turning the first novel I wrote into a YA book. I invested in a children's writing workshop and have gotten some valuable feedback on my progress. I also officially registered for the SCBWI Carolinas Conference in September and can't wait to immerse myself in the workshops and get the first 10 pages of my manuscript professionally critiqued. I spent many years thinking that I wasn't talented or even prosperous enough to invest in my writing career. I've moved on from that mindset and have made so much progress in my work once I decided I was a worthwhile investment. More to come soon!

It's Been a Zoo Around Here!

A photo from our recent trip to the North Carolina Zoo, which I wrote about for an article about North Carolina day trips.

Wow! It's been a crazy past month. I apologize for being scarce around here. But here is a peek at a few things I've been working on:

I've been playing around with ways writers can use Pinterest to promote their work and aid in the creative process. You can read more about that here.

I helped author Jennifer Richardson launch her memoir Americashire: A Field Guide to Marriage through a WOW! Women on Writing blog tour and am working on organizing a new tour for another author as we speak. Learn more about Jennifer's book at her website.

I turned in two new articles for Lake Norman CURRENTS and am getting ready to begin work on an assignment for July.

We have frantically been working to put out the latest issue of Little Ones magazine, the bi-monthly parenting publication in Charlotte I help write content for and edit.

I'm taking an online children's writing class and diligently revising my YA work-in-progress. Fun and tough!

My family has been traveling a lot, mostly for conference and writing assignment purposes. It's always fun to mix business with pleasure, but I'm looking forward to some lazy June weekends really soon.

What have you all been up to?