See? Even way back then, the writer had a 3yo begging for attention...

The phrase “Do one thing, and do it well.” never appealed to me. I had way too many interests to limit myself to a few, or heaven forbid just one.

Of course, this was my downfall in my first attempt at college. My eighteen-year-old self said “What? You mean I can take more than four courses? And it won’t cost anything extra? Wow!” And then there were clubs. Fencing, Star Trek, Bible Study in small groups, Singing and worship group once a week… I did it all.

I wasn’t a party animal. I didn’t drink (I still only drink a few times a year, although Klout seems to think I’m influential about alcohol lol!) and most of the parties I attended were the ones put on by the residential staff. I just had to do everything there was to do.

When I was going through the interview and background check process of becoming a nanny (Which I did and loved from 1991-1993) I was asked what ages of children I took care of. “Oh, all ages.” I replied honestly. I was informed that this simply was not an option; some nannies are good with babies, others with preschoolers etc. I was not allowed to say that I could take care of any age child.

This flabbergasted me. I was quite the all-around babysitter throughout the eighties, and often supervised a church nursery with a baby, toddlers, and other variously aged children. It seemed dishonest to say I specialized in one age or another.

As a writer, I certainly don’t do it all. But I don’t want to be limited to just one genre or style either. I’m a mom, and I’ve written some stories for kids, but that’s not where my mind and energy is these days. I love Romance, and I love Science Fiction. Fortunately the two of them go together well.

I like to stretch myself. When a beta reader remarked that the male relationships in my group marriage stories were lackluster, I started proofreading M-M romance. When The Red Dress Club prompted us to write something out of our comfort zone, I attempted a Steampunk story. I’m writing another Steampunk story now, and although I’m enjoying it, it doesn’t feel very Steampunk-ish to me and I need to do some more reading.

(Note to self: if you get it polished, submit it to Entangled’s anthology.)

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I just realized that the latest Round of Words in 80 Days has begun! So here are my current goals:

1. Finish Synaesthesia (This story is published on my blog one chapter at a time.)
2. Finish Give Me Your Answer Do and submit it to Entangled.
3. Edit Audacity’s Chance then send it out for critique.
4. Finish About Damn Time (This is a biggie… it is WIP#1, and got sidelined. But I need to finish it before I can move on to the next goal.)
5. Do NaNoWriMo. The book that, although not a sequel, comes after About Damn Time. Natasha & Peter’s story, no working title yet.
6. Finish WIP#2 The Sojourner’s Guide to the Galaxy

~Whew!~

I like trying to say I’ll do #1k1hr every day, and last ROW80 that helped a lot. I have to get over the feeling that “It’s not much, so why bother?” The answer is, a thousand words a day will eventually get me to my goal, and it is far better than writing nothing at all. But I’m not going to put that into the regular goals. It’s high time I finished something.

All this, and I still plan to do all the regular blog stuff I do. Starting with doing a little upkeep on the site and making sure any casual visitor will easily be able to see what my regular features are, even with the blog split as it is into fiction and non-fiction.

Anyone doing ROW80 and/or NaNoWriMo? Tell me about it! I want to hear!

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