So, here we are, blogfriends:  I’ve been blogging for six months, and am ready to shake it up a little, go for a blog makeover,  a little redecorating and shuffling and trying something different.  Crazy talk!  I like it — this feels fresh and new to me, and maybe even easier to read and navigate for my readers.  I find all this exciting, which is a red flag to me that I may need to get out more.

Now for a writing update:  I have submitted two more essays to anthologies, and am waiting to hear if I am a finalist for either book.  My email mailbox had become merely a repository for umpteen writing newsletters (yes, I am still reading too much about writing instead of writing about writing).  Now that I am eagerly awaiting an email confirmation that I am still in the running, checking email has become much more fun again.  And I only check 10 times a day, tops.

One of the [keeping-fingers-crossed] publishers is F+W Media’s Cup of Comfort book series.  Incidentally, this website includes a wonderful blog and member forum that outlines the calls for submissions and the status of each title; it also includes very interesting posts by the editor Colleen Sell — her experiences weeding through stories, and compiling a tight collection that will appeal to their readership.  She shares many of her life experiences that shaped the writer and editor she is today.

The second possible publisher is The Ultimate Book Series from HCI Books, which was the publisher of my first published story (did I mention it was published?).  Their website also explains everything a writer needs to know about submitting to books of this genre.  The whole process is quite straight-forward and enjoyable and HCI was a joy to work with the first time around.

As a contributing author in an anthology, I reaped the benefits of their publicist, who sent out press releases in all major markets highlighting any local authors who were included in the book.  As a result of the publicist’s efforts, I will have my first radio interview tomorrow.  It is on a small, local public radio station, for a weekly feature called “Grandparenting Today”.  I will tell heart-warming (and perhaps cautionary) tales about potty-training and lying and chocolate cake.  I will try to be engaging and funny and appealing to an audience of, well, another generation; one who may or may not be interested in potty stories.  At a certain age, diapers are not funny anymore.

I am excited, nervous and seriously wondering what I will talk about for 30 minutes.  There is an old Saturday Night Live skit about a public radio interview that keeps running through my head… I do not want to be that guest.  I think they talked about radishes for 15 minutes.  Yeah… ummm… okay…..

Wish me luck.