Turning over a new leaf

I think I'll spare us all the "I'm so sorry" song and dance. I've been a horrible blogger. I'll be better in the future. Here's my motivation.

Though you wouldn't know it to look at The List, my writing has really progressed in the last three months. I've taken solid steps toward creating a professional life, and I'm very excited by the progress I've made. (Big news? I'll be attending a Jane Austen conference in October, which will be my first attempt at professional networking.)

However, as you can see from the list, creating a writing blog is one of my goals. If I want to be a successful blogger, I must post on a regular basis. That doesn't necessarily mean daily, but it does mean more regular than once every three months. I won't start that blog until I've proven to myself that I can do that.

Things accomplished since last post:

19. Go to the dentist

63. Pay off my credit card

75. Read The Hobbit again

79. Get an iPhone

82. Backup my computer--flash drive or external hard drive

95. Get my passport 

 

The last was actually done in March (give or take), but I never got around to discussing that section in May. That, along with the iPhone, were the big ones. 

 

I hadn't planned to get the iPhone yet, but I was driven to it by a combination of writing and England. First, I realized that if I'm going to move overseas, I really ought to stop buying books. The idea was to use the Kindle reader on the phone to buy books. This... hasn't quite worked as planned, as the screen is really too small to comfortably read a full book. If e-book readers drop in price for the holidays, I will probably buy one.

 

Second, I wanted the ability to do the first read through of my stories on a portable device. I thought about an iPad, but I really can't afford one. I have the same problem here as I do with the Kindle app, but I think I can make it work. I've got Google docs on my phone, so when I'm ready to read a first draft for overall story flow, I'll upload the story to google and read it on my phone. It'll save paper, and I'll be able to make notes to myself as I go. 

 

Even though it hasn't worked out quite as planned, I'm glad I bought it. I've gotten so much use out of it in the past month, I can't imagine how I went so long without it. I don't think I would have survived this last weekend without it... the ability to read my email and tweet was really the only means of decompressing I had in a very difficult couple of days.

 

I think is long enough. Before a week passes, I'll come back and explain the things I've changed to "in progress"; there are some interesting stories there as well.