Goodness, I’ve been such a bad blogger. But then life DOES get in the way of blogging, doesn’t it?

It’s been months, possibly a year, since I lost my old blog and it has taken that long for me to pull myself together, hire the amazingly talented people at Waxcreative to help me put an awesome site and blog together, and finally I feel like the world has stopped spinning around me! Has everyone been thrust into the turmoil too?

It’s been an amazing year, a crazy year. In March 2008 I signed with my wonderful agent Roberta Brown. In April I had my first New York publishing contract. Months later my family moved to another city, I surprisingly and shockingly suffered a paralysis of my right hand for over a month, and damn it, I had actual deadlines. How can my life fall apart at a time like this? My dream of being published was coming true and I was physically sick  and paralyzed to the point of being unable to speak and with deadlines looming over my head!

I actually finished my book, THE SATIN SASH, with one left hand and a brain numbed by antibiotics and steroids. For three weeks I would wake up, stare at my right hand, wish it would move, grit my teeth, and use my left to type type type. I didn’t know if I could do it. I worried that I wouldn’t do it. What was it with this paralysis anyway and why didn’t the doctors know what was wrong? I asked my agent whether asking for an extension was possible, worried what the editor would think of me if I – first time author – did not deliver the book in a timely fashion. I did NOT want to give this sort of unprofessional impression. More than that, I did NOT want this sickness – still without a name – to take my dream from me.

So I plugged on and sent the book the day it was due. I was so tired! I’d typed at night, I’d typed during the day, but my body was tired, was still being poked and prodded at by the medics, and it was a struggle for this oddly sick body which had been healthy for all the 30 years before to keep up with my dream. After turning in the story, for a month I struggled to regroup, wondered what I’d do if the editor wasn’t pleased . . . and then, the amazing happened. Life started smiling again.

My editor loved THE SATIN SASH! She wanted no major revisions, mentioned the story had stayed with her long after she’d put it down, and how she was STILL mulling over the two heroes Grey and Heath and the heroine Toni. Grey and Heath and Toni, whose pull to me was so powerful they truly yanked me out of my dreary pit of despair.

My lovely and adored family moved to a safer, calmer place. Peaceful. Quiet.

And I started healing. Not quickly, but slowly and surely, coming back. My right hand returned. When I could snap my fingers and sign my name again, I felt like I’d been given wings to fly.

So now, after months of plaguing self-doubt, worries, and stress – the kind you feel when you’re not in control – I feel like I’m all right again. More than all right. I’m excited, I’m writing, I’m published, and I’m getting a brand new website so that when my first big baby – THE SATIN SASH - goes into the world, I have built a wonderful home for it. This book is special to me in too many ways to count.

It is so GOOD to be back! I missed my friends and I missed the fun and laughs to be had in blogland. I look forward to it dearly and to learning what everyone has been up to, too.