ME on July 29, 2008

As summer sneaks past its halfway mark, I'm taking a quick look back to me almost exactly four years ago.  I did not have an agent or a book in print.  I did have a not-yet-potty-trained two-year-old and a very amateurish blog habit.  Anyway, the post below is a trip down memory lane...

Freelance writing work has kept me from posting these four months. That, and the nagging question faced, I expect, by many experimenting with the blog: What's it all about? I have read some fabulous blogs, particularly those by editors and agents in my field. These sites are full of great information on writing queries, submission etiquette, and the wild and woolly machinations of the publishing biz. I have also read quite a few scary sites in which would-be writers bemoan their unsold manuscripts and decry those who seem to be standing in their way.

My own blog, which began as an attempt to explore the delicate balance between life and writing has seesawed between ruminations on the craft and a more personal timeline of my creative endeavors. While this does reflect my original intent, it seems to me as an increasingly educated student of the blog, it does not make for a great site. The best blogs teach, inspire, inform. Mine...not so much.

The upshot of all this is that, in those stolen moments between projects, I have spent some time reflecting on how to make Writer-on-the-Side one of those "best blogs." Do I have to wait until I am a published author--someone with the cache or authority to offer advice? Should I discuss, more narrowly, my experience as a writer of marketing materials for the publishing industry, my thoughts on education, literature and the sizzling question of "What is YA"?

I suppose I am in search of focus, direction, a solid sense of my identity as a blogger (sound rather like good attributes for fiction writing, too). For now I am left, a la Carrie Bradshaw, with a head full of pithy questions. The answers are more elusive.