Well, one thing I clearly have not been up to is keeping up with this blog! Which is bothersome, seeing as how I started Write, Run, Rejoice … yikes, eleven years ago in October, 2006 with the intention of chatting about my writing life and using it as a brain dump. Before then, I started on LiveJournal in September, 2005 by showing my inexperience with blogging:

Last May, I had no clue what ‘blogging’ meant. Is it blowing your nose while jogging? Clogging around the block? Is a ‘blogger’ a blonde lumberjack working for a Swiss logging company?

Huh. I don’t quite understand how the Swiss fits in, but the rest was rather clever. But in the past couple of years, I’ve really been turning my back on this blog, just like I’ve been turning my back on writing and being active in the writing community. Which is sad. I miss it. A lot.

So I am once again giving this blog a go. Not sure who … or if anybody is reading it, but that doesn’t matter. My soul needs this blog, audience or no audience. And since a good ole’ Friday Five is always a great way to jump back in, (I should know – I’ve jumped back in enough time,) here we go with this week’s…

What I’ve been up to

1.) Kicking butt over at Joyful Miles

At least I’ve been working hard over at the Joyful Miles Blog and YouTube channel, although I’ve yet to truly hit my stride and I’m way behind with content. But I just love it. I love inspiring others and every time I receive a message from someone telling me how I’ve motivated them to start running, my heart soars! It’s just been the most amazing thing.

2.) Posting on Wattpad

Another thing I’ve come to love. Wattpad! Yes, it’s more of a younger crowd there and I’m not doing anything to gain traffic, but the feeling I get after hitting the “publish” button is just tremendous. This has been an experience for me to stop seeking perfection and being fearful when it comes to sharing my work. Usually, I cling to a manuscript, not allowing anybody to read it until its been finished and edited about a thousand times. (Obvious exaggeration.) While Stephen King is right, keeping the door closed is smart, this is hording is keeping me from gaining valuable insights that could save me a lot of time with editing.

So for A Year of Happy Endings, a novel about four women who are seeking their own happy endings by mimicking their favorite movies, I’ve opened the door by posting rough edited chapters as I complete them. Which reminds me. I need to finish chapter twelve after writing this post!

3.) I’m still injured after eight months

Eight. Long. Painful. Frustrating. Months. I miss running desperately and whether or not I’ll ever heal with or without surgery is still up in the air. I go into my partial plantar plate tear in full detail over at Joyful Miles if you want the full scoop!

4.) I’m in LOVE with our Beach House!

Last May, my husband gave me a heart attack after expressing desire to buy a mold-ridden dump of a town house in Ocean City. I’m talking dump in all caps DUMP. But after many weekends of his hard work, it is now gorgeous and beautiful and the perfect little get-away location!

So far, I’ve had two different writing retreat weeks and each has been fantastic and productive. Well, my last one in the beginning of April might have been more productive had it not been for Thirteen Reasons Why on Netflix. I absolutely loved Jay Asher’s novel, so this series was high on my to-watch list. The dark and depressing content wasn’t exactly something to view while on a writing retreat, however, so it was a mistake clicking on the first episode that absolutely sucked me in. After that, I decided to reward myself for a completed chapter or blog post by watching the next episode but they were so compelling that I finally gave in one evening and binge watched until 2:00am.

Brilliant. Just brilliant and also hard to watch, seeing as how this is happening to so many kids at this very minute. The show was more graphic than the novel with explicit sex scenes … and that bathroom scene. On one hand … hey, that’s what happened. But on the other, this means many parents will not allow their younger teens to watch and they’re the ones who really need to see it. Still, I shall be binge-watching when the second season airs!

5.) Had a blast at my son’s Woodsman Meet

We came home from Ocean City and headed straight to Mount Alto Penn State College to see the annual Woodsman’s meet. My son is so passionate about trees and earning his forestry degree and it was so amazing seeing him at work, participating in various lumberjack-inspired competitions! Usually, he’s always easy to find in a crowd due to his beard. But not there!