Yes, I AM Still Alive…

I know it’s been AGES AND AGES since I’ve posted – I swear, I’m still here… Things have been nuts since the birth of The Sprout (she’s nine whole months old already, which seems absolutely impossible) and I haven’t been writing or doing much in the world of *real* work (she said, tongue oh-so-firmly planted in cheek, since this whole mommy thing is way harder than any job she’s ever held in corporate America). That said, I got an email from a writer friend today and had to post as a result (thank you Karen Wyle – this may have been the greatest accidental email in the history of email!). I didn’t want the post about her book to get lost in my “yes I’m still around” message, so I will post that next. First though I wanted to fill you in on a few things and give a few thoughts:

• I had my first (and only) baby last June.  We called her The Sprout before we knew if she was a boy or girl, and the name has stuck.  No, it’s not her actual name, but it’s the name I will use to refer to her on here.  She is amazing and I can’t believe how she’s changed my perspective on everything in such a short time.
• This new perspective has included the sad realization that, in the near future, there is going to be a whole lot less of me in my life than ever before.  I have struggled with this a bit, but am trying to accept that for now I have Things To Do that don’t necessarily allow me the luxury of focusing on myself to the extent I have in the B.S. (Before Sprout) era.
• This DOES NOT MEAN that I am living through the baby or losing myself or stopping being me.  It DOES MEAN that I can’t write like I did before – when the mood struck me, without discipline or schedule, for hours and hours if the words were flowing.  If I’m going to write with a small child at home, I am going to have to learn to do it on her schedule rather than mine.  This is very hard for me and I don’t particularly like it (teehee), but it’s a fact of my new life that I’m trying to learn to deal with (and believe me, it’s harder learning to adapt to this than to no sleep!)…
• I don’t know when I will return to a regular schedule of posting.  The blog is great and I like doing it a lot, but if I have limited writing time I need to focus on my *real* fiction writing first.  When I can, I will post.  If you have ideas/anything you’d like to see me talk about, please let me know – I write the blog for feedback first and foremost.

I am getting excited about writing again, which is a good thing.  I am self-aware enough to know that alone doesn’t guarantee that I will magically start doing it with discipline though…  Still, it’s a start!  I’m looking forward to hearing from those of you who are still out there again too.  So comment or say something when you can – it helps me a lot to know there’s someone out there…  🙂