While I was sniffling ...

What's a writer to do when she is sick with a non-life-threatening condition that simply makes her feel tired, cranky, and otherwise unproductive?

Why, read blogs, of course!

I've spent the last two days on the couch, nursing a slow-moving plague that should move on before it kills me. (I should know, I caught it from my daughter, and she's back at school.)

Anyway, I've come across some blogs that have thrilled my little heart the last few days. Some of you who know me in "real life" have patiently listened to my struggle the last few years as I have searched for sage writer friends who write the same kind of "stuff." It's just stuff. It's not romance, it's not sci-fi, it's not thriller or horror or suspense. In fact, it might have a little bit of all of that mixed in (with the possible exception of sci-fi, which I can't stand thanks to my brother's Star Trek marathons when we were growing up). Now psy-fi, maybe. Hmm, maybe I'll name a new genre. Psychological Fiction. Yeah...

I have come across many blogs for those who write genre fiction, and they are wonderful people. I have met many of them in person, and count them as friends and "coworkers," and yet, I have longed to find accessible writers of mainstream fiction. Accessible meaning they have an internet presence where they interact with other writers, published or unpublished.

In the last few months, I've come across some of those, and added then to my regular blog tour. In the last few days, while suffering from the plague, I've opened up a virtual Pandora's box! I'm in blog heaven.

You'll probably see the addition of many of these to my list on the right in the near future. I don't make the distinction at this point between published and unpublished writers, so if you follow the links, you'll find some established writers (those who have published several or many books already, like Diane Chamberlain or Joshilyn Jackson), some authors who are about to debut and are tickled pink about it (Carleen Brice, Therese Fowler, Jamie Ford, for instance), some who are pounding the pavement with their completed manuscripts, hoping to catch the attention of an agent or editor (like Elayne Hill), some who have given this writer's life a top priority, but haven't gotten to the point of querying yet (like ME ME ME!), or people who are just getting their toes wet (you, perhaps?).

I'm not sure what the future of blogging is, but for now, it's a way for me, introvert that I am much of the time, to build a network and community of people on a common path.

Wow, I'm delirious. That sounded way too serious. I better lie back down now.