• I signed up for a class to help me make progress on my novel(s).  It's called Your Book Starts Here.  Apparently, you learn how to storyboard and then, presumably, you write the panels.  I'm taking the class online because I don't actually want to talk out loud to other people, but I think typing to them might be okay.
• I'm converting Shef's old study into a studio.  I'm calling it a studio because that seems official and legit, and as a full-time writer, that's also what I want to be.
• I'm learning all about being a blogger.  That seems weird to say because I've been a blogger for twelve years already.  Turns out, there's a lot more stuff to learn like email newsletters, images, Pinterest, search engine optimization.  Actually WRITING the blog turns out to be only one tiny facet of blogging, according to the Alliance of Professional Bloggers.  That's not a real thing, but you can find lots of other groups of them on Facebook.  I will employ the new things that I think are cool and relevant to my blog right here.
• I have business cards.  The cards say I'm a writer, so it's probably true.  I'll keep you posted.

Little pieces of fiction I've written.

The time I decided to quit teaching to be a full-time professional writer, but then I didn't actually do that.

Tonight, I went to an event where author Eula Biss read from her book Notes from No Man's Land and answered questions about it.

Usually, I borrow from Lee and say that "if you want to read it, you should." I'm going a little bit further with this one and say that even if you have the slightest inkling to read about whiteness in a book by a white author, this is a book you should probably pick up. Our school had it as our One Book, so there were quite a few awesome colleagues at the event also listening to Ms. Biss.

There were also some people I didn't know, including Katie.

Guess what?!? And this is probably the best thing that's happened to me in a long time: Katie recognized me and told me SHE READS THE BLOG! That means I was recognized in public as a blogger by a person who reads my blog.

Omigod! I am over the moon! I thought about taking a picture of Katie and posting it right here as a public tribute to my reader. But, I resisted that temptation. I did not resist telling Katie that I HAD the temptation, however.

I told her all of that (and probably some other stuff) because I'm prone to babble on and on and share personal information when I get nervous. In fact, Dan and Erin teamed up to mock this trait of mine just last night.

Luckily, I didn't say, "I have hemorrhoids on my butt," which is what Dan suggested is the type of thing I generally say to strangers when I'm nervous. And I didn't even say anything about my psoriasis. So THERE, Dan. I have total self control.

I'll be honest: the biggest hurdle for me in the current blogging challenge is the requirement of an image.  I've really had to phone a few images in because of this.  Of course, Pronto would say that phoning it in is actually great blogging. Perhaps I just need a change of perspective.

Anyway, I decided I don't care that the deadline has come and gone and that technically I failed the challenge.  I'm going to complete these last few letters!  I'll finish if it's the last thing I ever do!

We went to to zoo today and had a great time. My idea for the blog was to take lots of photos of animals that start with K and then put them here on the blog.

It turns out the zoo only has two animals that start with K: the Komodo Dragon and Matchie's Tree Kangaroo. So here they are. You can't see them very well because I didn't do a very good job of taking the pictures. Also, I didn't realize ShapeCollage would make them so small. Oh well. Live and learn.



Shef also wanted to pose for a pic next to the buffalo statue, so I added that one, too.

I've gotten some positive feedback on the logo and title. I'm glad. It seems a lot of people secretly hated my previous background and font colors. And, of course, several strongly suggested that I hurry up and come up with a new title.

I'm pleased that people cared enough to feel those feelings, to tell you the truth.

Anyway, the new logo was to be for my business as a freelance writer. This was before I decided to head back to the classroom full-time, which is a decision I don't regret, as it turns out. I didn't even regret it last week, as we dealt with several extremely difficult problems at school.

Way back in March when I told my friend Renee I was going back, she said she was glad. "You just don't like teaching when you're pregnant," she said. That is so true.

I'm still hoping I can be Word Savvy in the summers, maybe. Or, I'm thinking of getting a job teaching some kind of alternative summer school. Isn't that weird? It would probably be a mistake.