LOOKING BACK, AND AHEAD

I got an email recently from someone I hadn't talked to in ages. She asked me how things were going with my book. Book? What book? Then it came to me with a jolt, "Ah yes, the book!"

You see, when I first started writing my "letters from Wimberley," I thought I could just stick them all together and call them a memoir. So what did happen with that? Well, let's say I learned just enough to discover how much I've yet to learn! Now the question is, if I don't have a book to show for it, how can I justify quitting my job in Houston and moving up here full-time to write?

I allowed myself a few hours of wallowing in guilt, then I decided to make a list of those things that I have accomplished this year - things that would have been impossible if I were still working at Buchanan's - and here it is:

• Joined Story Circle Network, attended their biannual conference in Austin, found a wonderful mentor in Susan Albert, and reviewed some great books for their website.
• Met the Muses - inspiring friends who constantly pull me out of my comfort zone, causing me to expand my horizons.
• Honed my writing skills by starting this blog, and learned so much by reading others - not just about writing, but also about living.
• Joined the board of The Bountiful Sprout, and helped give birth to something amazing.
• Took an art class that helped me overcome my fear of drawing, and an on-line writing class that honed my skills even further.
• Wrote some articles I am quite proud of, had a few published, and even got paid for one, at last!
• Finally got around to landscaping the beds around the main entry to our house.
• Grew a bit of my own food, including some awesome Romano beans.
  
• Learned to balance my days, and to live on half of what I did before.

OK, when I look at it like this, I don't feel so bad. Maybe the year wasn't wasted after all! But now what? Well, I think one of the reasons I am having trouble building up my blog readership is that I still haven't zeroed in on my blog identity, and thus, don't know my target audience. It would be so much easier if I was just a foodie blog, or a gardening blog, or a green blog, or a moving-to-another-country blog. If I were, I could join one of the hundreds of blog co-ops that are forming these days, and we could piggyback off of one another's success. But mine is a blog about living the good life, and that involves some of all those things, so how do I define and reach my target audience? I haven't the foggiest idea, but my goal for this year is to figure it out!