Friends, New Blogs and Nervous Breakdowns

Friends. This blog would not exist if it weren't for friends. I originally signed onto blogspot because I thought I needed to do it to tour virtually. That was at the suggestion of Janet Elaine Smith (http://www.janetelainesmith.com/), who promotes almost as well as she writes. She suggested that, as hard as a chapbook is to promote, a Virtual Book Tour would be the best way to let people know about my Tracings, a chapbook of poetry. I--with my ever-lacking bank of knowledge of anything tekkie -- thought I needed an account to do that.

That was in 2005.

Then along came Allyn Evans (http://www.allynevans.com/). Yes, two years later. She is my unofficial coach and shrink (degree in psychology and author of Grab the Queen Power: Live Your Best Life). She was trying to save me from a nervous breakdown. The urge to stab myself with a sharp pencil was coming from an effort to learn FrontPage so I could promote my next book, The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success to be published soon with Red Engine Press (http://www.redenginepress.com/). I had this dream that I could actually control my own website and had a plan for one called http://howtodoitfrugally.com/. Well that FRUGAL site is still a mess and getting cleaned up more slowly that a determined two-year-old with mush on her face. Allyn suggested that I could use a blog as a substitute website -- not an altogether crazy idea. She also said, "Try blogspot. It's easy." So here I am.

Well, Allyn, it may not be easy, but it's easier than FrontPage. Just in case there are any wanna bes out there who aren't already blogging, you will (I know!!) find it easier than I did.

So, I hope you will sign up to get regular notices of my blogposts. I plan to be generous about using material from friends and other authors. I hope to make it easier for readers to find good, new material and writers to write it.

Now, I just have to figure out how to help you signup for notification easily. Anyone out there want to lead me through that particular maze?

Best to you all,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author THIS IS THE PLACE; HARKENING: A COLLECTION OF STORIES REMEMBERED; TRACINGS, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON'T; and THE FRUGAL EDITOR: PUT YOUR BEST BOOK FORWARD TO AVOID HUMILIATION AND ENSURE SUCCESS.