=== Spring (?) Emerging ===

Looking to the coming of spring with the anticipation of the NEW~~~new challanges, new risks and new story ideas.

ALSO, I will be taking a different slant on having a blog. It is time to commit to regular posting. The frequency of which I have yet to determine, but it will be at least once a month. Yeah, yeah, yeah--you've heard that one before. Well, it's time to stand up or shut up with this blog thing. Besides, I want to get more comfortable with the thought of posting updates and what have you, in an approximation of a website.

The other thing going on here is that I'm having trouble sitting down to my current rewrites. Perhaps this will motivate or at least leave me feeling that I'm still in the game.

Adios 'til next time~~~

=== RWA National ===

I checked in after a long time to learn that my blogging consistency is non-existent. Sheesh! I need to get on the stick with this.

Only about a week to go until the Romance Writers of America conference in Dallas, TX. Always an amazing time, I'm so looking forward to the change of pace and unique stimulation of the wonderful world of romance writers. Every year I learn one or two amazing new aspects about writing and the whole publishing game. Wonder what will come to light this year? Hmmm.

Fall -- A Time For Reflection

Some of my friends think of Fall and the approaching Winter as a dark time, a time heralding death. Not me. I think of those two seasons as a time where the world is tired from all the efforts of the summer and slows to a time of well earned rest. I find this to be a time when nature pulls me into relaxation. In my spot on the planet, the rhythms of the seasons change. The heat of the high desert Summer lets go to the cool breezes of Fall. The trees shed their leaves in preparation of Winter slumber. I imagine nature's heartbeat slows, then she takes a deep breath and releases that breath sighing. As a person who continually bites off more than she can chew, it's nice to have outside influences to help me slow down. I get myself so revved up sometimes that I don't realize I'm going 200 miles an hour until I crash. I'm looking forward to Winter more than usual this year. Having lost my Mother this past February I find myself looking at time differently and wanting to use every moment well. I'm finding ways to pare down the number of responsibilities I've heaped up on my back. It's happening bit by bit. I imagine by Spring I'll feel considerably lighter. :-)

Back From Atlanta and Hitting the Ground Running!

The 2006 Romance Writers of America Conference was a fantastic experience. This was my 8th RWA conference and the big lesson I learned this time was, when in doubt about what your doing, head straight back to the basics. I reviewed my most recently completed book focusing on the basics, and was suddenly hit in the head with a figurative brick. So yesterday, I dove into rewriting that story, moving in a completely different (better) direction and the words just to flew and continued to today as well. Yea! I love it when that happens. Then today another fun thing happened. Snail-mail delivered a letter from the SouthWest Writers Workshop letting me know that one of my books, Dark Legacy was a finalist in their contest. Yee-Ha! Good news about ones writing endeavors is such a great motivator. Bye for now!

---=- Romance Writers Conference -=---

Some 2000 of us romance writers will be converging on the city of Atlanta next week for five days of learning from, connecting with and just plain enjoying a whole slew of like-minded individual's. It's the annual Romance Writers of America conference, a wonderful time of validation and encouragement. Writing is one of the loneliest businesses. So, the chance to confer and commiserate with others who know what it's like to focus, focus, focus on dream whose culmination at times seems as close as your fingertips, and other times as far away as Alpha Centauri, is priceless. I have an editor's appointment so I'm going to be practicing my spiel on my husband, the patient soul. What I look forward to most in those five days is the chance to eat, sleep and breathe--as a writer. The usual worries and responsibilities of domestic life will fade from view, being skillfully handled by my wonerful spouse and kids--so that for those few days I can just be a writer.

Hey There and Welcome!

This is my first foray into the whole blogging thing. The focus of this blog is the on-going pursuit of becoming a published writer of romantic fiction. The ups, downs, stops, starts and surprising twists faced on the bumpy road to publication.

I decided on Barb's Base because, whenever one has a goal, one has to have place to start from--a foundation or footing. A home base. I was hoping to come up with something really snappy and clever sounding, but plain old base just stuck.

Glad to be here. :-)