My apologies, blogosphere.

Back in June I got this blog up and running, wrote a few posts, gained a few followers, and it seemed like the writing a/vocation I’d finally heeded was off to an energetic start.  Furthermore, because I’m a teacher, I have a lot of time off in the summer to write with more focus.  I figured I’d have plenty of easy-going hours to continue blogging and working on my screenplay…and maybe even take on some hired freelance work.

Which I did.

And I’m grateful for the experience, but it came at a cost.  For the price of all that free time I learned that 36,000 words is a lot to write when every sentence requires 5-10 minutes minimum of research.  It was demanding, especially when woven into vacations with family, teaching summer school and moving to a new apartment.  The blog and screenplay were its casualties, but at the very least I can say that I’ve been paid to write.  That I’m a professional writer.  And that’s worth something.

So is writing for the pure joy of it, however, and I’m eager to get back to that.  Of course school has started up again and writing time is at a premium, but then that’s how it was at the beginning of all this; might be the kind of pressurized circumstances I need.

Looking forward to sharing my thoughts on New York wines after a visit to the Finger Lakes; on Napoleon role play; on my surprising and growing obsession with high fantasy.

And here, just for fun, are some highlights from my students’ ‘tweets’ as Holden Caulfield:

Twitcher in the Rye. Just a quick 5-minute focusing assignment I had the students do: tweet as if you were Holden Caulfield.