It's been a while since I made a blog post, and a few things have happened since then. In fact, one could say I have not written a blog since last decade. Hyperbole? A tad, but technically true. We have entered a new decade, so welcome to the new roaring twenties! (Dig the photo above.)
Anyway, I was very busy teaching classes last semester. I began at a new school, which will pay me a bit more, but it's a longer drive, and the classes are full, so it takes up more of my time. The other good news is that I will be teaching a literature class at my new school, if enough students sign up. Fingers crossed.Unfortunately, lately that means less time for writing, but I'm still slugging away, and writing whenever I get the chance.
I've also found time to do two more public presentations since my last blog. One was at this year's Monster Fest in Chesapeake, VA, where I presented on the history of mummy stories in film and books. The other was a presentation on the six degrees of separation from Smithfield, VA to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at the Isle of Wight Museum. For those presentations, I put together some Power Point files, and that kind of counts as writing, right?
Last year, I broke my all time record of the most submissions I have ever made in one year. I found a blog recently that claims you should aim for at least 100 submissions per year to get published, and my record is not quite half of that, but I'm going to work toward breaking my current record again this year. It has not quite turned into numerous publications yet, but I am getting published more often than I used to. I also have a few ideas for some nonfiction articles, which I would like to work on this year as well as my usual fiction.
Anyway, I just thought I would bring everyone up to date on what I've been up to. I will try to make a few more frequent blog posts in the future, and I will make them a little bit more useful to you the reader. In the meantime, here is a music video on my return, "Back in the Saddle" by one of my all time favorite bands, Aerosmith.
