Sixteen years later, I'm still here.
I suppose that's good news.
I haven't been posting here as much as I should, but I haven't ever gotten up the courage to shut down this blog, or say goodbye, or repurpose things. And I think only part of the reason is because it's been going for so long.
Looking back, I am amazed at all of the changes this blog has been here for. The birth of my daughters, the fall of the Liberal government. The rise of the Conservative government. The fall of the Conservative government, and the rise of the Liberals again. I remember when this blog had a lot more traffic, and there was a Canadian blogosphere community out there, where we engaged in dialogue, like a nationwide coffee klatch.
Five years ago, the air went out of the Canadian blogosphere. Blogs became passe, and the audiences moved to Twitter and Facebook. And then we sort of drifted apart.
But I'm still here because now that this is no longer a blog, it is a diary. It is a journal. I can still practise my writing. Looking back on my posts have brought up memories that would otherwise have been forgotten. As before, this blog is about me, and as I continue to benefit from it, so it will continue to be about me.
Besides, in the near future, I may have some promotional work to do with soon-to-be-released books.
In the meantime, it has been shockingly busy, here. I've powered through no less than five non-fiction book commissions this past month. They say freelance work is either feast or famine, and these past few weeks have been pretty feasty. I do like the work, although I'm disappointed that I've not been able to keep working on The Sun Runners. Still, perhaps later this month, as the non-fiction projects ebb, I'll be able to push on. I'm over 72,000 words on this project, and am hopeful of finishing a draft of the novel by the end of March.
And I have a new idea rattling around my brain. It's sort of a sequel to The Sun Runners, in that it's in the shared universe. I've greatly enjoyed setting up the universe of the colonies of Earth dealing with the fact that the Earth has collapsed. The next volume will deal with Venus and Mars, and how these two sisters rework their relationship once Mother Earth slips away. I'm calling it The Cloud Riders. Maybe I'll have a scene to show you later.
Sixteen years ago, I was unpublished, and had just started working on the story that would become The Unwritten Girl. Today, I have over fifty books with my name on them, including four fiction novels. Sixteen years from now, God willing, I will be 61. My daughters will be adults, and the world may be a very different place indeed.
And maybe, just maybe, we can read all about those changes here.