Hi folks; I hope you're doing well these days. I'm here to let you know that I will no longer be keeping this blog. Rest assured that it's nothing personal or reflective of anything that's happened at WDC. I hate to use the "it's not you, it's me" line, but that's exactly the truth.

There are several reasons for this, but they're all intertwined. First, you all know that my life went through a major transition two years ago, when my in-laws moved in next door, my father-in-law was diagnosed with dementia, and my job was transferred in a period of less than six months. I was very honest about the difficulty of that journey. Unfortunately, most people aren't comfortable dealing with other peoples' pain or struggles, and I lost a lot of readers at this blog during that time - readers I haven't (and probably won't ever) be able to get back. I can't say that I blame them. After all, who wants to follow a blog where every entry is a pissed off tirade. In retrospect, I realize that's exactly what it was. I wasn't nearly as objective as I thought I was being, and I think I overwhelmed people with too much of my pain and struggle. When people are uncomfortable, they leave. And the truth is that my blunt and overt nature made many people uncomfortable during this period of time. People in my personal life understood and several of you were good enough to stick it out with me. I thank you for that. But I also can't blame the ones that left, because I understand why they did it. I'm happy to say that things have settled in a better place and in fact, I do believe my life is better than it was before the changes. It was a brutal transition full of learning and struggles, but I think it's safe to say that things have settled in a spot where it's all worked out as well as it possibly could. Still, the damage of sharing too much of my trials is done, and it can't be undone. So here you see one more lesson I learned from that painful period of my life - the importance of discernment.

Another reason is that I'm not nearly as active here as I was several years ago. I've gravitated toward working on novels, novellas, and long stories more than short stories. The work that I'm producing really doesn't get reviewed well here at WDC, where most readers seem to prefer poetry, short stories and flash fiction. I dabble in these things, but I've come to realize in the past year that I'm truly a novelist at heart, and that's where I'm going to direct the majority of my time and effort in my writing. Plus, I was fortunate to get 2 book contracts last year, which have kept me very busy. I've had to learn a great deal about promotion, and that takes up more time than I imagined. I'm having to channel my energy at a broader range of activities to support my writing and unfortunately, they've taken me away from here. In fact, I don't plan to extend my upgraded membership when it expires in August. I'm paying to host my own website now and the money would be better directed toward supporting that and other promotional efforts for what I have published. I will maintain a basic membership here, but since I have less time to spend here then I will not be as active.

This leads me to my final reason to abandon this blog: It comes down to the basics of where time, money and energy are best spent. I'm not on this site as much as I used to be. Getting published has drawn me into other areas on the Internet, including more work on my own website and other social media. Frankly, I'm not selling books through this site, and I have to pay to have my own domain name for my writing website. Plus, the blog on my personal website results in many more hits than this one does. I have another blog that I update periodically at Open Salon, and the truth of the matter is that I simply don't have time to maintain 3 blogs on a regular basis when I have my writing, a full time job, family, friends, and volunteer work at church. As my former therapist said, every human being only has so much energy. Some of it must be directed toward mandatory things (like work and family) and you have to choose how to spend the rest. I've taken a long, hard look at what's producing results for my writing online and frankly, this blog isn't resulting in any new readers, fans or book sales. My life is too busy to invest in something that isn't returning, so I've had to take stock and cut back or eliminate several things who's season has passed in my life. Unfortunately, this blog and my updated membership at WDC are two of those things.

Believe me, it hurts like hell to have to make these decisions, but the truth is that this new life is very different from the old. It's a better life and despite the challenges it has brought greater blessings and opportunities, but it's also required me to go through everything in it and to cut some things that were painful to give up. I've also had to give up counted cross stitching, membership at another writing website that I couldn't keep up with (Authonomy), and I've announced my intention to resign from one of my committees at church when Rick's term on council ends in December. When your life grows, you have to push out what isn't serving. I hope I am able to return to some of these things one day but for right now, I must let them go. Time will tell what returns and what was truly for a season that has passed.

I wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavors and welcome you to follow me at other places where I have an online presence. My website has a blog at it and I welcome you to check it out at http://www.sherrithewriter.com . I am also at Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads and welcome you to follow me at those sites as well.

Thanks for many wonderful years of being a member and blogging here. I've learned a lot and can truly say that I wouldn't be where I am with my writing or in my life if it weren't for your help and support. Thanks everything, and I hope you will continue to follow me elsewhere on the Web.

Godspeed!