Four months!!! How has time passed so quickly? What have I been doing? Not blogging, obviously. Sorry about that! Well, here I am back again … and here’s a bit of an update on my writing and editing and other activities.

Tutoring … yes, a lot. The 2018-2019 school year has been my busiest yet for tutoring. In fact, I’ve had to draw a line and pass on a number of tutoring requests to other tutors. Well, good for them, anyway, right? Oh, didn’t you know I do tutoring? Yes, indeed. You can find out more at my tutoring blog — though I certainly need to update that one too. But at least all that tutoring is a good excuse to slack off on my blogging, right? No? Oh dear.

Editing … still at it. Romances (even though I swore I’d never edit them … it’s kind of fun, actually … though I do draw the line at erotica). Memoir (people’s lives are so amazing … and as an editor, I get a first peek into their written memories). Historical writing (I love history–guess that’s why I have a degree in historical geography. I have the privilege of copyediting, proofreading … and writing for … Archivos Magazine.  And editing other local history articles). Proofreading/copyediting indigenous writings. Young Adult fantasy. Screenplay typing and editing. Poetry. Children’s animal stories. Nonfiction:  Community Healing; Journaling …  (I was thinking I haven’t done too much editing in the past few months–but it seems I have done more than I thought!).

Writing … NaNoWriMo 2018 60,000+ words! Currently working on three potential book manuscripts (a fictionalized story about dementia; an anthology/collection of my “Summerland Stories” which are memories from my childhood, several of which have previously been published in magazines and newspapers; and a how-to self-editing (and when to hire an editor) with a wild and wooly historical adventure story woven through it! Shorter pieces? A couple magazine articles, a short story contest entry … and lots and lots of Quora questions and answers (you can find the full list on my Quora profile, plus links to specific answers to educational questions on my tutoring blog, and links to specific writing and editing questions here on my writing and editing blog. I became a “Quora Top Writer” in early 2018, was invited to submit questions in late 2018, and now in 2019 have been invited to start my own space, which I’ve just started and named Pen&PaperMama Perspectives.

Learning and Activities … During fall 2018 I attended an 8 session writers’ Feedback group led by wonderful writer, writing coach, and photographer, Julie Ferguson of Beacon Literary Services. I learned so much! That’s the awesome thing about life–the opportunity to continue learning every day! I’ve also been attending writers’ drop-in sessions on Sunday evenings, where a group of local writers meet and madly write for 2 hours (no talking allowed till the writing time is up) at local coffee shops. And I’m still involved in the Okanagan-South Writers’ League (OWL) (co-facilitator). Just the other day, I signed up to attend the Word on the Lake Writers’ Festival in May (I’m very excited). Speaking of learning, I’m constantly reading excellent books and articles on a multitude of topics (including, of course, writing and editing), and I try to share helpful links on a variety of Facebook pages, several for which I am an admin: the OWL group page; B.C. Writers, Authors, & Editors page; STEPS Creative Writing for Youth page; and the Okanagan Archive Trust Society (Archivos) page–plus a number of other pages and groups I’m involved with. We can learn so much from each other, right?

So I promise I’m going to try and post more helpful information here. I certainly have lots of notes to draw from, with all my different activities and experiences. Spring Break is coming up in a week, so I’m looking forward to some downtime from tutoring and the opportunity to do lots of writing!

Cheers!