About Time!

I've neglected not only this blog but ALL of my writing for nearly 6 months! Why? Oh, I could find dozens of excuses, but why bother. It's just time to get started again!

The big news lately is our pending move. We've bought a house in Plymouth. I never would have believed, even just a couple of years ago, that I would be moving back home. And even when I started toying with the idea a year or so ago, I never thought it would happen this soon!

We are excited, but still sort of stressed, too. Buying a house is nerve-wracking, and we had plenty of bumps along the way that might have made good blog material if the whole process wasn't so competitive. That, and my husband particularly likes his privacy - which limits my public blog material :-)

My sister, Julia, is bringing Dad's trailer up tonight and we will move the first load of stuff tomorrow. The final move won't be until the end of January. We have a few things we want to do in the house, like restoring the hardwood floors in the living and dining rooms, before we completely move in. I'll be keeping Julia busy for the next couple of months! For those who don't already know, Julia is the bomb at everything home improvement related. I'm a lucky sister :)

There. It's a start. Just like the moving and the Christmas preparation and pretty much any other big job in my life, it all gets done a little at a time. Likely, this post will lead to another - in less than six months!

Camille, the World Traveler, is Home!

She made it back safe and sound! Her first words to me (while I was almost hugging the life out of her) were, "What kind of mom gets all her hair cut while her daughter is out of the country?" Ha Ha! I told her I updated my facebook photo just so she would recognize me, but at one Euro for 15 minutes online at the internet cafe, she didn't check in as much as I'd hoped she would.

In spite of a bit of bad luck (they lost everyone's luggage on the way there,and someone broke into her hotel room in Paris), Camille had a grand time. I'm sure I'll be hearing more about it. We only talked an hour or so when she got home, and she's at her dad's for the rest of the weekend. I haven't even seen the pictures yet. She couldn't wait to show me all the cool clothes she bought, though!

Now, maybe my writer's block will go away! I been able to write or think about anything but her!

Camille is in France!

I have to write a retraction of my recent hub, Approaching an Empty Nest. I was totally unprepared for what a "baby" I would be when my "baby" headed across the Atlantic Ocean.

It started Sunday night. Ken & I took a ride Saturday to eastern NC to look at houses. When Camille got home Sunday night, she asked why we were looking at houses in Jamesville and informed me, "YOU CAN'T MOVE AWAY! I HAVE ANOTHER YEAR LEFT!"

After she went to bed, I boo-whoo'd my way through my journals from my trip to Great Britain when she was only three. I'm very excited for her, and I wouldn't say I am worried, just ridiculously emotional.

Her flight out from RDU was delayed last night, so I was able to keep in touch via text message for a while. She sounded fine, of course, and she called me when they finally made it to DC. She said they were "power walking" through the airport and she had to pee and was afraid she wouldn't have time before they boarded again. But she sounded good.

Today is Doug's birthday so he got the first call from France - and he missed it! But he called to tell me she had left a voice mail, she sounded good and in a hurry, and they lost her luggage!!! Poor thing!

I hope she makes it to an internet cafe soon and catches us all up with some details. I know she will be home before I can blink, and if she was home she wouldn't be here...she'd be off with her friends. But I miss her!

Thirty Articles in Thirty Days!

I did it. I published 30 hubs in 30 days on hubpages. Whew. I had hopes of finishing another 5 to bring my total hubs a a nice round 100, but I'm happy right now with the 30. I've seen an increase in traffic, and the corresponding increase in pennies earned, but the best thing for me about this challenge was realizing that I can manage and complete a reasonable writing goal.

Thirty was a bit of a push, but not terrible. My next goal is to publish five hubs per week for the rest of the summer. I'll revisit and set new goals around my birthday (Labor Day weekend).

It's still early....maybe I'll get a start on those next five now.

HubChallenge Update

Just one week into the HubChallenge, and I've published 20 of the 30 hubs that I committed to! As I've progressed this week, it's crossed my mind a time or two that maybe I should have gone for the 100, but it's time for Preddyfest, and I don't think I'll be cranking 'em out this week.

Preddyfest is providing material for me though - my last 3 hubs, published today, were all inspired by the Franklinton Bluegrass festival. Daddy & Julie, Deborah, and Julia & Price are all there already. Ken & I went out for a short visit yesterday. We saw Rodney Preddy (the host of the event), and Wayne came over to play for a little bit. We waved at Debbie when we rode past their camp, and Deborah told me Johnny and Lucille were there, too.

I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the regulars, and of course to all the music! I'll probably have more fodder for hubs when I get back next weekend!

Published Three of the Thirty

I'm off to a decent start in the Hubpages 30 Hubs in 30 Days Challenge. I've published the first three today, and it's tempting to think that maybe I *could* do 100, but honestly, I wrote these three yesterday and just polished and transferred to HubPages today. 30 in 30 is much more realistic for me!

Are you up for the challenge? Then come join me at hubpagesat HubPages and see how much revenue you can generate in your first month!

Here are my first three hubs for the challenge:

Entertainer Steve Quinney Celebrates 60 Years

Copyright and the Public Domain: One Hubber's Perspective

Copyright and Fair Use: Is it okay to post song lyrics in message board forums?

A Hub Challenge, and Twitter

This week I've managed to type with two hands! Haven't written a book or anything, but I've been able to do some basic data entry at work, managed emails and even a few forum posts. And my mind has been on writing, even if my pen hasn't touched paper much more than my left fingers have touched keyboard.

Just as I was trying to talk myself into setting up some goals and priorities to jumpstart my writing, along comes HubPages with a new challenge - 100 Hubs in 30 Days - or for the slightly less ambitious, 30 Hubs in 30 Days. As busy as we have been at work lately, I have no doubt I'd fail the 100 Hub challenge, but 30...well, that's just 1 a day. It's similar to what I tried to do when I started my first MarriageUndone blog (which I am hoping to expand soon at blogspot as well).

As part of the hub challenge, I've also finally signed up for twitter - I'm easy to find since "dineane" is still pretty uncommon in internet land :-) I have lots to learn about twittering and tweets, but it looks pretty easy to use.

Think you can write a short article every day for a month? Then come join me at hubpages and try the 30 day challenge!