Happy birthday to my blog!

It's hard to believe The WA is one year old today! Please, help yourself to a piece of pink and purple cake.

When I began I wasn't sure what my blogging goals were or if I could keep it up. But here I am, 365 days and 149 posts later. What do I like about blogging? What have I learned so far?

I've developed a voice and several features I enjoy―Three for Tea, author and illustrator interviews, and Scrips and Scraps. Three for Tea in particular is a fun way for me to invite all of you into my virtual living room and to learn more about the authors I most admire. It's been gratifying for me to see that this feature resonates with so many of you, too.

Interviews are also fun, but require a greater time commitment. I am still interviewing Long Island authors and illustrators, although with less frequency. Related to the interviews are the LICWI Roundups, which now appear only when I have a critical mass of information to impart.

Scrips and Scraps is my commonplace book of blog quotes. I'd like to give this feature more prominence, but I may format it differently (one quote at a time on a specific day) and I may rename it. Stay tuned.

Alas, Kashi does not have her own column yet, but she's been known to step in occasionally and take over on...

... Poetry Friday. I love this special day. Even when I'm not participating, visiting other PF participants' blogs has introduced me to new poets, new forms of poetry, stretches, literary magazines, contests, and of course ever more blogs and bloggers. It's gotten me reading more and writing more. I've purchased many books by members of our amazing poetry community, and I'm so grateful for the new friendships that have come from blogging with you.

For example:

Amy VanDerwater, me, Mary Lee Hahn,
Laura Salas, and Mary Ann Scheuer at Kidlit Con 2010

Since last March 30th, I've made progress in two important areas. First, I completed my second draft of Death Over Easy and am finishing up the third. This is monumental! How did I make it happen? Easy. I visualized DOE in book form, then went at it with determination and gusto.

Just kidding. What I actually did was I put my commitment out there on the blog for all the world to see, so I couldn't back out. I found that this is an excellent way to achieve one's goals!

The second area in which I made progress is my journey toward write-tirement. Here is where visualization did in fact help. I worked up specific goals, crunched numbers, and now have a target date and a way to get there. Happily, I am a whole year closer to write-tirement than I was last year at this time.

I think I'll have another piece of pink and purple cake.

Thank you all for following my blog this year. Thank you for your friendship, support, your warm and wise and funny words. And Kashi thanks you, too.

Happy National Poetry Month!
(April 1 to 30)