May I introduce myself?

Aloha! It's me, Andrea!

Thank you, Sarah, for inviting me to join Authorial Moms as a regular contributor. I've been a fan since we met in 2008 at Chicago North's RWA Spring Fling Conference. It was the first public appearance as writers for both of us, and I fondly remember much mutual hand holding as we practiced our first pitches. I've loved traveling this crazy publishing road along with you. Thanks for your support and cheerleading!

My body of work consists of a small handful of contemporary romance manuscripts. An agent in NY has a revised copy of my latest, Baltimore Heat, literally sitting on her desk. (I know because she requires hard copies snail mailed to her.) She has promised to read it as soon as she finishes with her clients' work.

My fingers cramped long ago from keeping them held crossed for so long, so I've shaken them out and only keep them crossed in my mind now. Waiting for agent responses is an excellent exercise for building the patience muscle. After three years of submitting, I'm pleased to say my muscle is strong and healthy. I hardly remember anymore to check my inbox for 'her' name. ;D

On a personal note, I'm a mother of three boys, ages 12, 9 and 7, and the wife of a math professor. I'm blessed with lots of time during the day to write as the three kids are off at school, but the irony is that I get more writing done on days when I'm pressed for time than on the days when my schedule is wide open.

Oh yeah, in regards to my opening salutation. Nope, I'm not writing from Hawaii (only in my dreams). Instead, I'm sitting here at my kitchen table, looking out at a very snowy, but sunny backyard in West Michigan. (Yep, we capitalize the 'w' in west here!) It's great to be only 12 minutes from the beaches of Lake Michigan in the summertime, but in the winter it means LOTS of lake effect snow and at least four snow days off school every year for the kids. I love those snow days.

Changes are A'Coming

The Authorial Mom blog is undergoing some changes, and I think you'll like them.

I'm going to be teaming up with a few other moms who are authors. Andrea Dickinson and Laurel Levy will be joining the Authorial ranks, posting once or twice a month (assuming no one is on deadline and no children have the stomach flu, of course).

In addition, we're going to start having guest bloggers, other moms who are authors who want to talk about getting their books published while managing family life. If you'd like to set up an interview or guest blog, just email me!

Why am I teaming up with other Authorial Moms? There are a couple of good reasons. First off, I have less time to devote to my random musings. As a Harlequin Desire author now, I'm going to have real deadlines. Plus, I'm reviewing novels for Romance Novel News. And my son is, shall we say, an energetic kindergardener who requires lots of monitoring.

But beyond that, the fact is that I'm essentially a boring person. Really. I do the same things all the time. I walk the dogs, make The Kid do homework and pick up toys, sit at my desk and write down imaginary conversations. I'm not a jet-setting, scandal-producing, drama queen. My name will never make a CNN Entertainment Headline, and that's okay with me. Sixty percent of the blogs I've written over the last few years could be recycled this year without anyone noticing the difference. (Look! My flowers are blooming! We ate turkey for Thanksgiving! I had a birthday! Christmas came again!) I like the comfort and familiarity of predictable routines, but frankly, they don't make for exciting blogs.

So I'm going to open this up by bringing on two women whom I've become close Authorial friends with. I'll let Andrea and Laurel introduce themselves to you in the coming weeks. They are wonderful women and I couldn't make this Authorial journey without their love, support, and honest feedback.

So stay tuned for the new and improves Authorial Moms blog!

What I've Been Doing Instead Of Writing

So, how have you been?

Good. Good to hear. And how have things been going?

Good. Glad that's been working out for you.

What's that? Oh, what have I been up to?

Oh, not much.

The usual, really.

Same old, same old.

School, work, laundry, dinner.

Nothing new to speak of, really.

Same as it ever was.

Well, thanks for checking in!