Arg! It's the Buccaneer Blogfest

Hey everyone. Today is day one of the Buccaneer Blogfest hosted by the lovely Sharon Bayliss and Court Young.  Curiosity Quills has the ship all stocked with rum and grub, too. If you just heard about it, it's probably not too late to enter, so get on board, Matey! No, it's not really about pirates, but it is tempting to talk like one and stare at pictures of Johnny Depp as Cap'n Jack Sparrow. The fest is all about book blogging, making connections, and enjoying the awesome crew of the blogosphere. So, I'm ready to walk the plank as I introduce myself.

I am relatively new to writing as an adult. Basically, I had my son at age 22 and didn't write much from then until he turned 15 or so. He's now 17 and I've completed two crappy novels (and a half or two) that now wither away on flash drives and I'm 3/4 of the way through novel #3, a YA contemporary romance loosely based on Pride and Prejudice. I jokingly call it Pot and Prejudice because it's about a girl who's parents get busted for growing and selling weed, but she just wants to finish high school so she can become a lawyer. I also write short stories, but mostly just for fun and to get myself motivated to work on my W.I.P. again.

As far as my career as an author goes, I have queried a bit, pitched a bit, and have since realized that I was querying way too early on "starter projects". I've slowed down a ton after writing two full-length novels in less than two years (and my first was over 120,000 words on first draft). So, I feel like I am sort of past the naive phase where I think my writing is awesome and totally going to get published. Now I'm scared to death that I'll never be good enough and my writing has slowed from a raging waterfall to a tiny trickle. I'm still working at it, though, and I've joined a real in-person crit group to keep me motivated and to learn from some more experienced writers.

When I first got back into writing, I got all crazy into Goodreads and posted a lot there and in groups. It was an awesome way to connect with other writers and start to learn what this publishing biz was all about. Here's a link to some of my older writing on Goodreads. Also, I always accept friend requests so come and find me there--Coquillefleur. Goodreads is a great place to find new books, keep track of what I've read and want to read, and I use their blog widgets all the time.

Otherwise, I work full time at a lame corporate jobby job that my teenage-self would have rather died than accept, but now that I'm the mom of a teenager, I gotta have a day job. I ride my bike all over the place in my awesome, beautiful town of Bellingham, Washington where I am so thankful to live. If I had to describe myself in a subculture, I'd probably say I'm a hippie, but I used to be WAY more hippied-out than I am now. I don't own a cellphone, and I never have, but I pay for my son's so I can call him all the time and find out what he's up to. He is a musician (guitar), photographer, and skater (longboard these days) and he keeps me entertained. I also have an awesome partner that I am not married to, but we've been together for over ten years, so basically I'm as good as married without the paperwork. We have a large tabby cat that rules us all.

Well, this seems long and rambling and since it's all about me that feels weird, so there you go. I'm really excited for this blog fest as I've been a total slacker when it comes to blogging lately, so this is going to be great. I can't wait to meet everyone!!

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