In August 2005, I pitched a book concept at the Willamette Writer’s Conference and landed, eventually, my first book deal.

In March 2007, that book, Writer Mama, How To Raise A Writing Career Alongside Your Kids was released by Writer’s Digest Books.

I tell the beginning of the story of how I grew my writing career to the point where I was ready to do a thing as scary as standing up in front of a room full of people to propose a book in Writer Mama. (I even include the pitch I used.)

Then, I finish the story of what it’s like to write a first book proposal and write a first nonfiction book in my recently released (and first) e-book, Author Mama, How I Became A Published Author and How You Can Too (available in PDF now and coming soon to Kindle and POD).

But I want to reminisce a bit about Writer Mama. Because just like the seed becomes the sprout and grow and forms a bud which becomes a flower that eventually bears fruit, which is harvested, Writer Mama was the seed of an idea that has born infinite joy and possibilities for me as a writer and a teacher.

Of all of the things that I love most about my writing, teaching, and speaking career, my relationship with my students is the greatest source of happiness for me. You might think that my favorite part of being a teacher would be to look back on the people whom I have taught and bask in the glow of their successes. But that’s not really where it’s at for me. That’s not what really pumps me up.

For me, the biggest source of pride always goes back to the very beginning. To the point where a writer is basically unpublished, unfocused, and unsure how to get from not writing to getting paid and published. Saying it so briefly makes it sound like a piece of cake. But it’s not so easy that some specific guidance and support can’t help and speed up the process. And if it’s done in a foundational way, the work I do can (and often does) lead to the launching of a professional writing career for many mom writers.

The beginning part of the process, assisting in the launch, continues to be my most satisfying role. Although lately, I confess, another favorite part of the process has been helping writers become regularly published, after they’ve gotten published once or twice in my Dream Teams. Because once a writer mom has gotten published and gotten the hang of getting regularly published, she has lots of options in her future.

Writer Mama has been around for 39 months, with almost fifty reviews on Amazon, and new moms still discovering it every day. In the meantime, some of its original readers have gone on to grow their writing careers to the point where they have a book out or coming out or in the process of being pitched. They are building platforms, landing agents, and just basically producing their own careers, which makes me really happy.

I’m going into my fifth year of working with mom writers. Okay, sure, I love to get the e-mails saying that the first piece was published or that one piece has been published ten times now or that the student has decided to take their career to the next level or that the student just landed an agent or that the student created a class or got a book deal or any kind of good news. But I just love hearing from my students period. At the end of the day, my role is being helpful and helping mom writers find their momentum. It’s simply what I do.

At this moment, I can’t think of anything I value more than the fact that all Americans are free and that we have the right to express ourselves as we see fit.

What a gift, and one that so many willingly give up, for reasons I am not sure I will ever understand.

This, not to mention the millions who have never had the amazing rights that we are granted each and every day.

How fortunate we are, folks. And so very blessed.

Happy Independence Day! Create something amazing with your life. Start today.

~ Photo by Express Monorail

Today is the Summer Solstice.

I can’t think of a better time to be grateful for what has already been a very eventful and prosperous 2010.

In tumultuous times, I’m more grateful than ever for the amazing people that I get to work with. These are just a few of the top-notch folks I have been wanting to thank, who have helped me wake up happy to do my job every day for the past six months:

Jane Friedman, Director, Content & Community Development Writer’s Digest (she has a new title)

Rita Rosenkranz, Rita Rosenkranz Literary Agency

Judy M. Miller, Parenting Your Adopted Child Expert & Freelance Journalist

Guy L. Gonzalez, Director, Audience Development, Digital Book World

Dan Case, President of Oklahoma Writer’s Federation, Inc.

Kathy Sena, Freelance Journalist & Parenting Expert

The Associated Writing Programs

Kelly Messerly, Content Strategy Manager, Writing Community, Writer’s Digest

Leona Grieve, Newsletter Editor for Willamette Writers

Jill Bryne, author of the memoir, A Crack In the Sidewalk

Diana Jordan, Program Coordinator for the Willamette Writers Conference

Marina Cameron, Northwest Author Series Wilsonville High School Student Intern 2009-2010

Pat Duke and staff at the Wilsonville Public Library

The Friends of the Wilsonville Public Library

Bill Johnson, Office Manager for Willamette Writers

Wilsonville Lambs Thriftway

Wilsonville Starbucks

Thanks so much!

Happy sunshine and blue skies for the rest of the summer, everyone!

~ Photo by Perfect Hexagon

Well, here we are almost third of the way into the year, and I have recently been reminded that I have already accomplished a lot. How about you?

Why not read my list and then post your own in your blog? We will create quite a thunder patting ourselves on the back simultaneously.

1. I published my first e-book in beta, sold 109 copies, received a 25% response on requests for feedback, and can’t wait to launch the revised version in more formats in May. Thanks so much to everyone who participated!
2. I’ve taught two rounds of Writing & Publishing the Short Stuff and have had the highest class completion rate in ages. Writer Mamas are motivated to get published…and that’s exactly what’s happening. I’ve given away two class scholarships so far this year (value $250) and tomorrow I’ll announce the recipient of the third. (By the way, the next round begins May 12th, more info here.)
3. I’ve been enjoying monthly conference calls and ongoing interaction with my former students in three levels of Dream Teams. The second-to-last round of calls are all taking place over the next week and I cannot wait. In the meantime, sign ups for the fall Dream Teams have begun. (They begin in April but some will likely fill by the end of May, more info here.)
4. Inspired by my students, I’ve started placing parenting articles again. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on the results of those efforts as they happen in May and June. It’s been really fun writing some fresh pieces and I can’t wait to submit more.
5. I have been on Twitter for sixteen months and I have 7,755 followers. I am listed 626 times. Now that’s regular participation paying off.
6. I just sent out the seventeenth issue of my weekly e-zine, The Prosperous Writer. I am really enjoying keeping in touch with readers directly on a weekly basis. And I love to read and Tweet the responses folks write to the weekly topics. If you are not subscribed, sign up in the upper-right hand corner of this page. The e-zine is not archived, so you must subscribe to participate.
7. Judy M. Miller has been my administrative assistant since last May. As we get close to the end of our year of working together, I’m so pleased with what Judy has accomplished. Take a look for yourself and see.
8. By Monday, I will have attended four writing conferences in four months. And that’s about as much as this author mama can handle without throwing her family into complete chaos. (Next time, I’ll try to pace it out a little better.)
9. Also on Monday, I’ll turn in the completed book proposal for my third book. I am so excited to work on this project, which is like nothing I’ve written before. Curious to find out what will happen? Me too. Stay tuned!
10. We moved in February and we love, love, love our new home, which is an idyllic 1940’s cottage right next to the river and the biggest park in town. We are enjoying our yard and garden and, needless to say, our dogs are in heaven.

I can think of a few things in my daily routine that could use improvement. But I think I’ll save that for another post.

Now it’s your turn! What have you accomplished this year so far?

1. Sitting next to my daughter at the kitchen table on a Saturday night while she writes out her Fancy Nancy birthday party invitations.

2. An amazing dinner we had out at Macaroni Grill last night (thanks to a gift from my husband’s theater kids). If you go, try the Penne Rustica and the Lemon Passion cake. Oh. My. God. Both so tasty.

3. Our new home is an adorable little historic cottage. This felt like our first almost-normal weekend day here. Coming soon: we finish unpacking and have a “real” normal day. I cannot wait.

4. The Internet. My friend Kristin Bair O’Keeffe, author of the debut novel Thirsty from Swallow Press, is giving a talk at the Shanghai Literary Festival about how writers can benefit from social media right now in Shanghai, China. It’s amazing how easy it is to keep up with a friend in Shanghai, China. Thank you Internet!

5. The weather. What a gorgeous spring day we had today with trees in their full blossoming glory. At a local outdoor mall the other night, the dogwoods were blossoming with their holiday lights still on. Three cheers for spring.

Keep the good stuff coming, March. That’s all I can say…

At the beginning of the month, I thanked the folks I’ve worked with on my three e-zines in 2009.

Today, I’d like to thank some of the people who are helping me point my career to a more expansive future.

These folks gave me an education in 2009. Their examples have opened my eyes and I’ve learned a ton from them. And for this education, which is still ongoing, I am grateful.

Jane Friedman: Next to my students and readers, Jane has probably been the most influential person in my writing career. She is the one who believed in me and my first book, Writer Mama, back in 2005, and continues to be a fountain of excellent, up-to-date insights about the publishing industry in our interactions and in her blog, There Are No Rules. I have had the privilege of witnessing her ascent at Writer’s Digest, where she has worked for over a decade, from acquisitions editor to Publisher & Editorial Director of the Writing Community. Without a doubt, add her blog to your reader.

Chris Brogan The first time I heard Chris Brogan speak during a tutorial at the 2009 Tools of Change Conference in NYC, I wasn’t sure what to think. His presentation contained a few gems but it was free-floating and seemed a bit off the cuff for my tastes. The next time I saw him speak in May at Book Expo America, however, his presentation was focused and clear with informative slides that allowed him a lot more room for being spontaneous and interacting with the audience. I have become a fan of Chris’ blog, where I feel like he provides insightful posts on topics I can relate to. And I like his newsletter even more, where he shares a more intimate take on his work life. Suffice it to say I think Chris Brogan is someone to watch and learn from in 2010. I know that I learned a lot from him in 2009.

Cory Doctorow In the spring of 2009, I interviewed Cory for Writer’s Digest Magazine. I also met him at Tools of Change, and I found practically every remark he made fascinating. He struck me as someone on a mission, who is completely comfortable being an advocate for what he believes in. I felt like a got to know Cory better as a writer in our interview and during my preparation for the interview. He is the one, more than anyone in 2009, who helped me shift my focus for 2010. For me, he exemplifies the writer who is living on the cusp of the traditional publishing industry and the dawning of the new popular publishing movement. If you are a published author looking for a role model of how to balance what has been and what will come, I suggest that you subscribe to Cory’s blog because he’s living it, writers. He’s living it.

Michael Hyatt Although my name is Christina, I am not a practicing Catholic. So it’s not the religious component that attracted me to Michael Hyatt’s blog. What attracted me were his blogging abilities. I love the way this guy blogs! Also he’s found a way to fuse his professional life, personal life, and leadership skills into a blog that, for me, provides the perfect example of work-life blend that many of us are already living. I find his transparency about his work/life balance extremely comforting. Check out his recent blog redesign. It’s pretty darn cool.

J.A. Konrath I identify so much with the advice that J.A. Konrath doles out in his blog that I feel like we may have been separated at birth (except maybe he is the horror/suspense writing twin and I am the nonfiction how-to twin). Actually, we look nothing a like and are not twins, though we did attend the same graduate school writing program at different times. As I appreciate Cory Doctorow, I appreciate J.A. Konrath. I think writers need writer-to-writer advice as much, if not more, than we need agent-to-writer or publisher-to-writer advice and a steady stream of it. If you want that kind of tell-it-like-it-is advice, I highly recommend J.A. Konrath’s blog, The Newbie’s Guide to Publishing.

Ali Edwards It’s tough to find an example of a woman blogger who is as true to her authentic self as Ali Edwards is to hers. I can’t think of another female blogger, who is as devoted to her blogging practice and readership, as Ali is. Or as natural and transparent about it as she is. I’ve been a long-time fan of Ali’s blog. And whenever I need a touchstone for how real women blog, I turn to her. I hope you will too, whether you like scrapbooking or not.

Seth Godin I’ll be a Seth Godin fan for life. Even though I don’t love every single one of his books. Why? Because when I decided it was time to build my first real website, all I needed to do was check every single one of his books out of the library and speed read them all. And in a matter of a couple of weeks (he’s written quite a few books), I had myself an education from a master. And you can too. Seth’s blog is simply called Seth’s blog.

My seven-year-old is in the middle of a letter to Santa, which is sitting on my desk. It begins:

Dear Santa

I have been mostly good this year…

This kinda sums up how I feel about the year. I don’t know about everyone else but my 2009 was a pretty wild ride. Half the time I felt like I was just trying to hold on to my hat because things were rolling so fast.

I’ve made a commitment to more deliberate focus in 2010 and a more thoughtful pace, and these words—deliberate focus and thoughtful pace—remind me of a few people I partnered with in 2009, whom I really want to thank.

The Writers on the Rise Team: Cindy Hudson, Sage Cohen, Wendy Burt-Thomas, Kristin Bair O’Keeffe, Lori Russell, Abigail Green, Laura Bridgwater and Judy Miller.

The Writer Mama Team: Sage Cohen, Jennifer Applin, Abigail Green, Mary Andonian, Sharon Cindrich, Kelly James Enger, and Judy Miller.

The Get Known Groove Team: Gigi Rosenberg, Sage Cohen, Cindy Hudson, Gregory A. Kompes, Kati Neville, and Meryl K. Evans, and Judy Miller.

These writers are all so incredibly devoted to the craft of writing, to sharing what they have learned with others, and to growing solid careers that I am humbled to have had the opportunity to work with them all year. You can find links to their sites in the sidebar.