What I Miss Most...

Last Wednesday I participated in Chill Me, Thrill Me--a panel of mystery authors who spoke at the McClay Branch of the St. Charles City-County Library. Saturday I moderated a panel and taught a class at The Big Read. So my "social" calendar for promotions has been very full.

And I miss writing.

You see, as I write I tell myself a story, and I indulge in that world of my fantasy. When I don't get to work on a book, I find myself cranky and sad. I miss Kiki Lowenstein and her friends. I miss the creative outlet of immersing myself in another world. I get very lonely.

So in the evenings, I always try to work at a craft. Lately I've been experimenting with markers making journaling boxes and embellishments. I'm using several stamps, stamping the images, and trying a variety of coloring and shading techniques. It keeps my hands busy and helps me feel productive. Because that's something I need, and something crafts provide...a feeling of being productive. (See my The Big Read Journaling Box here.)

Preview of a Busy Week

Looking forward to this week, it will be very busy. Tomorrow early I have a radio interview. Tomorrow night I'll be at a book club at Suzanne Hooper's house. She's a neighbor, the wife of my friend Tony, and a trainer of Support Dogs. I admire Suzanne's work and her fantastic spirit. Suzanne's not afraid to engage anybody and chat! You should have seen her at my book launch at Main Street Books. She'd buttonhole shoppers with that huge smile of hers, a megawatt smile, and say, "Have you read Joanna's new book? You need to. It's set here in St. Louis."

Then on Wednesday I have an interview with Diva Craft Lounge. That's the "big daddy" (or "big mama" I suppose) of all scrapbooking Internet radios. On Thursday, our wedding anniversary, I had to Kingsport Tennessee. On Friday I speak at the Authors' Dinner of the Kingsport TN Times Women's Expo. So I'll be busy working on my speech until then. Yes, I practice. I break the speech into bits and actually say those out loud. I'm working on a little song to the tune of "Downtown", the Petula Clark hit, but I suggest you go shopping instead!

About AllTop...

As you might have noticed, I've joined AllTop. Check out the badge at the bottom of this page to learn more. AllTop is an aggregator service. That means they scan all the blogs and put together a listing of the top blogs in different categories. They add a line or two about the most recent posts.

Why is AllTop important? I don't know about you, but I don't have time to scan every blog I should so that I can keep up with all the news in my field, scrapbooking and in my profession, writing. So AllTop does that for me.

Okay, I promised myself some writing time after I posted this. Now for dessert!