and to all a good night.
Last year at this time I was knocking on my neighbor's doors with a sleepy child in my arms letting them know there was a fire in the building. What a way to start the new year. The highlights of my year were:
March: My manuscript almost finished, I focused on cleaning it up by working with 2 other writers in getting feedback in 2 trouble spots.
April: I was assaulted at work by a crazy temp they hired at work.
May: My hands began to bother me so one of my writer friends offered to transcribe my dictations of the final edits to my manuscript.
June: I was out of commission from blogging, letter writing, and my creative writing and out from work on short term leave after being slammed with spam, viruses and DOS. Being sidlined from a digital life made me climb the walls of idleness.
July: Got back online and back to work after being out 8 weeks, only to discover all the data on my pc was gone, hard copies of documents lost, and my desk and projects in shambles. My house was in shambles too as the major part of the restoration from the fire was underway. My book was shelved until things in my life could get back to normal.
August: It was my son's 5th birthday and I had lots of fun planning and throwing his party after my home was almost back to normal.
September: My hands were still a problem, so I took vacation time. This time I enjoyed myself in the process by seeing lots and lots of movies and handwriting letters to all my soldiers.
October and November: These 2 months were crazy busy months at work and actually became a blur of activity.
December: Missing my deceased friends, I decided to finish the book and get it out to publishers so that I could share my memory of them with others. After failing to contact the writers that had volunteered to help me with the edits, I learned the book was submitted under their names and accepted for publishing. After many weeks of intense negotiation, I learned from my lawyer that because I didn't mail a copyrighted copy of the manuscript to myself my claim of authorship cannot be legally proved.
On the bright side, (not!) I received a promotion at work with a hefty pay raise, which comes with more responsibilities and more people to deal and work with. After much thought about all the positives and negatives of my job I decided to turn in my resignation today, which will become effective on 4-1-05.
As for my book, I was furious at first. Even thought of possible means of revenge, but have since calmed down. I believe in Karmic principles, so I know these ladies will get theirs soon enough! Because my lawyer never gave up and did raise enough enough doubts, the publisher has put off publishing the book for now. We will see what happens with it in the end.
As for blogging and writing? I will wait till I get better before coming back to write here about my musings. I will write from time to time. But if I'm to get better, I have to be a good little girl and stay off the keyboard as much as possible. This means not visiting my favorite sites including those of my blog family and friends.
Family: Although I may be in a digital void, you will remain in my heart and mind. I will especially miss my blog dad, Harvey and Sgt. Hook. They are special people those two.
H: Thanks for being such a terrific, and faithfull supporter. You always managed to put a smile on my face during my sad or tired days.
Sgt: You are indeed an awesome and impressive man, and I'm referring to your character. As for your writing, I will miss it the most, for you continually inspired me through your own incredible writing. You will remain in my prayers until you return home to your loved ones.
One last note: at present I'm helping Catholic Relief Services, an organization I did relief work for, many years ago. They have sent every available body overseas to help with the tragedy in Asia and so I'm helping out, organizationally and planning wise, from NY. I can't stress enough how this area will need our support in the years to come. My fervent prayer for this New Year is that somehow the survivors of the So. Asian tragedy are able to find solace and a reason to go on with their lives in the days ahead. I hope they are encouraged by the support the world is showing them and I hope the support continues until their lives are restored.
Till we meet in the D-space I am sending electronic (((((((((((HUGS))))))))))) to you all.