Two Exciting Announcements

I'm very excited about two new opportunities that have become available to me this month.

I was invited to be a roaming contributor (occasional blogger) for Ali Cross' Dojo at ninjaswrite.com. I'm really enjoying the daily posts and the insight and confidence and motivation they provide to get working on the craft of writing. If your looking for a daily boost of motivation to keep moving forward with your writing, this is definitely the place to visit.

One cool thing Ali has done is to create these little buttons you can add to your blog, to earn your Ninja writing black belt. Let me tell you - I am so excited for that day! In the mean time, I'm going to enjoy the process of learning and improving in the craft of writing. I studied the requirements of each of the buttons, and found that some matched and some didn't what I have already accomplished. So I am going to go with the highest level I seemed to have achieved, and work my way up from there. If you want your own ninja writing belt, go check it out and see where you qualify.

Here's what I've done to earn this badge, according to the list of requirements:

• Have been blogging for a year or more (almost five now)
• Joined a writer's association (Authors Incognito, Southern Alberta Writer's Workshop)
• Joined a critique group (three years now)
• Have at least five writer friends (too many to count - isn't that a wonderful feeling?)
• Started visiting writing blogs
• Entered a writer's contest (lots, and won or placed in a few!)
• Have been writing in earnest for six months or more (or years...)
• Attended a writer's conference or workshop (several of both)
• Have your work critiqued by another writer (and now know how important this is)
• Read at least 50 books in your genre (again, too many to count)

I'm excited to keep working towards the purple belt, with my eye forever on the black.

I've also been invited to be a regular contributor with the Mormon Mommy Writers Blog. Starting next week, I will be making weekly posts on Thursday. They have a cool new project called Monday Manuscripts in Motion, encouraging you to pull out a project and do something to tweak it at least once a week. Should be fun! Come check it out: