Springing back into action (bad pun, I know)

Wow! Has it really been that long since I posted here?? This is awful. I feel bad about being absent from this space for so long. But I’m hoping the absence is over now. I’ve written a posting schedule/outline for this blog as well as my other blogs so hopefully that will enable me to stay on top of things.

Here’s what I envision for Margin of Error -

• Monday . . . . . Life Anecdotes
• Tuesday. . . . . Stories
• Wednesday. . . Freelancing
• Thursday . . . . Related Stuff
• Friday. . . . . . . Weekly Progress
• Weekends. . . . Stories

Today though since I’m posting this I won’t be following the schedule. Don’t want to bore you tears with 2 posts in 1 day when I’ve gone for so long.

I hope you had a great Easter! I created some Easter desktop wallpapers you can check out on my main site if you’d like. Even though Easter is over, they’re still kinda cute and have a spring feel to them. I might even add some more in the coming days.
‘Til Tomorrow,
~ Annie

Write Another Book

I’ve been thinking . . . that it’s about time to write another book. Since October, I’ve been extremely busy with my coursework for my Graphic Design Bachelor’s degree but I’ve done a bit of soul searching lately and come up the same thing I always conclude - I’m a writer.

Sure, I absolutely love graphic design. I’ve been doing it for over 17 years now and I’ll never tire of it. But my heart is in writing. Always has been. And I find that I am most fluid in the rest of my life when I’m busy writing. Something. Anything. Just writing.

I’m not sure if I’ll continue my degree or not at this point although I’m really leaning towards not right now. I still need to discuss this with my husband and see what he thinks. But my heart just isn’t in any more education. At least, not for design. I only decided to go back to school and get a Bachelor’s to brush up on the newer design programs and such anyway. Since October, I’ve learned a lot and it might be enough for me to be satisfied with the level of knowledge I have as a designer.

I’ll continue to be a part of the design world, continue to freelance as a designer but what I *really* want to spend my time doing is writing.

So . . . another book. Not sure exactly what yet but I feel there’s something brewing. I have a list of ideas I’ve been creating for a while now, just waiting for the right mindset to get going on. Maybe it’ll be one of them. Or maybe something else altogether.

I’ll continue to explore this here if you want to follow along.

More soon!

~ Annie

Overcome Writer’s Block

Back in November 2007, I wrote a series of blog posts on how to overcome writer’s block that I turned into an 11 page report. You can download it for free at Annie Anderson Blog as my special gift for stopping by Margin of Error today.

I haven’t been around much here lately between life, family, school and other stuff but I’m planning a new series of posts very soon. Stay tuned!

If you have any thoughts on what you’d like to see here or suggestions for topics, post a quick note in the comments.

~ Annie

PS - Check my new blog on weight loss and getting healthy at The Weight Loss Papers.

It’s NaNoWriMo Time!

Get ready - NaNoWriMo 2007 is coming!

Yep, next week is November 1st - the official beginning of National Novel Writing Month. And as I have for the past 2 years, I’ll be participating. However, my goal is to actually WIN this year. See, the previous 2 years, I haven’t managed to make the 50,000 word mark that is required to “win” NaNoWriMo but this year, I plan to make it.

Last week I bought Chris Baty’s “No Plot? No Problem!” and it’s a great little book. I think it’s going to be very helpful in actually getting me across the finish line this time. I’ll try to update my progress every few days here. And if you’re participating, please let me know! We can help each other out.

~ Annie

Something Accomplished

I’ve already written about this at The Write Point, but I wanted to update here too.

Over the weekend, I participated in Dr. Mani’s Heart Kids Blogathon by doing my own “mini-blogathon” over at the internet marketing & more blog. It was a lot of fun! I did a series of posts on Overcoming Writer’s Block. So far, there has been some great feedback both on the blog and via email. If you go check it out, let me know what you think.

My kids have all been ill over the past 2 weeks and up until Saturday night, I’d been well. But, late Saturday evening, I began to feel poorly and by time I woke up Sunday morning, I had a horrible cold. So, after resting much of the day Sunday, I’m now up trying to work on my various projects and taking care of kids. Not a fun thing to do when you feel awful and just want to go to bed. Too bad I couldn’t get my husband to take the day off today. I’m sure it would have done much to help get me well quickly.

Anyway, I’m in the process of updating and reworking the Write Point site. It’s now set up with a great blogging platform called blog i360. So far, I really like it. There’s a review of the service over at internet marketing & more if you want to take a look. I will let you know when the new stuff is live.

While I was resting yesterday in my sick health, I found the beginnings of a new story taking shape within my head. Unforutnately, the details are a little sketchy since I didn’t get up to take notes. I think I can figure it out, though. The biggest part I remember was a title -

Good Things Come.

Not sure where it will lead but I think it’ll be a fun project to work on. Perhaps I’ll post bit and pieces here now and then for you all to review. What do you think?

So - that’s it for now, I think. Sounds like the kids are finished with their lunch . . .

New Name, New Header

In order to differentiate this blog with my “professional” Write Point website, I’ve decided to change the name here. As a result, the header has been changed to reflect the new name. Overall, I think this change will be beneficial to this blog and it’s content.

The web address will remain the same - http://thewritepoint.wordpress.com to avoid that confusion.

Since this blog is about the writing life as I see it, I thought “Margin of Error” was a good fit.

Let me know what you think! Tell me if you love or even if you hate it.

Distractions from Writing

Lunchtime. Yesterday. I made Hot Pockets for the kids and I. Nice change after eating soup all week with sick kids. So, got everyone’s pockets heated up, took mine out of the microwave, took a bite and holy schmuk!

That bugger burned my lip!

Note to self: Don’t eat Hot Pockets straight out of the microwave.

Today I have a nice little blister right on my bottom lip. Poor lip. Not a good place for a blister. And as long as I don’t try eat anything else, it really doesn’t hurt. Feels kinda weird, but not painful. Kinda like a blood blister or something.

I mean, it’s just there. A small bump on my lip. I can’t even see the thing, for crying out loud!

But . . . It’s very distracting.

You wouldn’t think it would be. But it is.

Whew!

Summer is now over. Kids are heading back school. And I’m back!

Sorry for the long absence. I was participating in a challenge during the month of August and not really doing much writing. So, I took a break from this blog. Now that the challenge is over, I’ll be posting here again.

You can check out my blog from the challenge by heading to my 30 Day Challenge Blog if you’d like.

I’ll be back in full swing next week. Just wanted to get a quick post off to let you all know what’s up. Have a great weekend! Hope you’re enjoying your quiet house if the kids have gone back to school.

And I’ll see you soon!

~ Annie

Gone with the Wind . . .

Or maybe the rain . . .

I have started writing this post 3 times now. And every time, something happens to steal my focus.

Had a great title idea once. That’s gone.

Had a great opening paragraph once. Gone too.

Had an idea for the content of the rest of the post. And yeah, it’s gone as well.

Grrr . . .

And now my oldest son is sitting here using the family computer slurping his water (which is highly annoying) and it’s raining (which is really bothersome because I’d rather have sunshine) and my stomach is growling (which is just mildly uncomfortable).

So, I guess instead of writing here, I’m heading off to the kitchen. I’ll write again later when the inspiration returns.

Such is the writing life, huh?

The Hazards of Blog Writing - or One of Them, at Least

So much to do, so little time - as they say!

I’m so sorry I’ve been gone so long! Normally I try to post here at least once or twice a week but I’ve been so busy lately, I nearly forgot about my blogs. I suppose that’s the hazards of life, eh?

Or maybe it’s the hazards of blog writing?

Well, I’m not sure. But what I do know is that I have lots to catch up on and lots to tell you about. I’ll be making some new posts beginning next week with all the new stuff including more on the tale of writing dilemmas (like holidays, end of the school year, cats, “fence jumpers” and more).

I hope those of you in the US had a great Independence Day!

~A