Well, it’s a miracle, I still remember how to do this! Including even MUSICA!  I still got it!

I just wanted to say hello to you all, send a thousand kisses, and tell you how sorry I am for being away for so long.  But most especially I wanted to thank everyone who’s been sending me  positive messages via the blog and email.♥ You will never know how much they’ve meant to me. They’re like verbal backbone strengtheners! And I’ve needed every one of them! There’s an element of guilt you know, locking yourself away like I have. Your words tell me you forgive me.

Especially on the days when the blank page just stares back at me.  If you wonder where I’ve been, I drew you a picture ⇑ . . . I’ve been doing this and this and this and this for all these weeks and months.  And I am so close now.  And when I get done, I will do my best to make up for lost time.  I know you wonder why I don’t just put up a little something to say hello, but it’s the concentration thing that I really need to write a book, and almost everything breaks it.

Pay no attention to me . . . I have these little guys on my side now, one of them sits on my paintbrush just like in the picture below . . . and I’m almost done! I probably should have started writing books like these when I was 28 rather than 68 — I’d be so much better at it by now!  ‘Course, then this would have been a much shorter book!  (But that could be a good thing!) You do what you do when you do it I guess.

I think it’s turning out good ~ I just want to set it free and let it fly by itself and very soon, I’ll be able to do that.  I just underestimated how much time it would take.  But you know I couldn’t turn it in until I felt like I’d done my best on each page.  You scrapbookers know what I mean! Also, I’m VERY boring these days, you would have been sick of me by now anyway because it’s all this, all the time.  I’m a broken record living in Groundhog Day.  Yes, you’ve heard this song before! 🙂 But soon, I will get interesting again. There will be food and gardens and home grown tomatoes and farmers market and walks and ocean pictures, maybe even a train ride and a Willard! Lots more Jack and much more Girl Kitty, and maybe even a little Joe.

One of the big excitements this week was when I remembered my baby book and thought how cute the pages would look as end papers for the book.  That’s one of them up there.  With my baby hair still on it!  (What I ought to do is take that hair in and see if they can make a clone of me from my baby hair and have the clone finish The Fairy Tale Girl!  Good idea!)  Remembering those pages put me in a good mood for two full days!  On one of them my mom writes about my birthday and says I received squirrel slippers for a gift! She is going to LOVE this book!  BTW, she is healthy and happy and so is my dad!  I spoke to him this morning and he says, Hello Girlfriends!

Pookie Boy! Even though this is short, and just a hello and big thank you, I know you would maybe never forgive me if I didn’t include a photo of my sidekick who is always right here beside me, just like you, through thick and thin ~ Jack will also be glad when I’m done working, he’s ready for MUCH more playing.

But he still loves me. And look at those paws. OMG I want to eat them.

I promise I’ll be back soon.  Your generous words of encouragement, here and on Facebook and Twitter too ~ they’re what I’ve been leaning on to get through this. You keep me sane, and that is saying something ~ XOXO and see you soon! Back to work I go . . . I’m writing the words for the copyright page now!  P.S. don’t get me wrong, this is a labor of love. I would do it no matter if anyone else wanted it or not.  It’s been in me forever and has always wanted out.  It’s actually more of an exorcism than a book writing adventure! xoxo