Putting My House(es) In Order

Things always pile up when I leave, even for a few days. Bills to pay; dog hair to vacuum; house plants to water. Time to toss out some of the inadvertent experiments in biological warfare that were growing in the back of the refrigerator. Time to organize my receipts from travel in the hope that much of it is deductible; time to critique my students' latest assignments . . .

In my on-line house, it's time to post a new newsletter, time to complete a requested on-line interview for another blog, and, at long last, time to update my website -- about a year overdue.  

My previous web mistress found herself overwhelmed with other obligations so now I have a new web mistress and she's already hard at work,  sending me proposed looks for the various pages. It's going to be, I think, fresh looking and easier to read and navigate.

I hope to incorporate the DAY OF SMALL THINGS blog -- which was no more than a stop gap measure when I couldn't get in touch with my previous webmistress -- into the updated website. And I plan to add to the recipes and folklore pages on my website.

I'm also trying to figure out how (without spending big bucks) to do a good quality recording of me reading a bit of the new book (so Joan and Marilyn in New Zealand will get an idea of what Appalachian dialect sounds like.) Any ideas? Anyone?

And speaking of ideas, if any of you take a look at the website and have suggestions for additions or improvements, I'd love to hear them.  We may already be working on it -- or it may not have occured to us.

And when both my real and my virtual houses are in somewhat better order, I'll  be more able to focus on writing the next book . . .