Tomorrow I travel to Austin, TX for the biggest, baddest Film/Interactive/Music conference in the whole damned world: South by Southwest. Thanks to a small Professional Development Grant from the Regional Arts & Culture Council this journey to the Lone Star State will satisfy a long-held dream of mine.

Apparently, all I needed to do was to write an interactive, genre-bending, alternative publishing experiment in the form of a very personal erotic memoir. Wow! Who knew?

It was just last year, in July of 2009, that I faithfully began publishing draft segments of The Miracle in July online, baring it all for the world to see. I had an idea, and a dream, and the desire to see what would happen if I followed my bliss…if I just "went for it" with as much chutzpah as I could muster.

It's now March 2010. I'm on an extended hiatus between Act Two and Three, a break from the brutal MIJ production schedule which comes to an end when I return from SXSW. You can expect the regular Monday morning postings from me that you've missed so much beginning March 29. You're welcome.

Of course, a hiatus isn't really a break. I've stayed plenty busy!


I released my first ebook, an erotic anthology called Venice is for Lovers: Erotica from The Miracle in July – Act One, which is gorgeously viewable on most ereaders.
I launched an MIJ newsletter. (HINT: Sign up for my newsletter and get $1 OFF my ebook Venice is for Lovers!)
I updated the Media Coverage page to include some very nice things that Portland Reading Local and Conversations in Marketing said about MIJ.
I revised the MIJ Social Media Press Release. (Artists of all kinds should have one!)
I revised (again) the About the Author, About the Story, and About the Music pages.
I met several writers inspired by my publishing experiment and encouraged them to follow their bliss and move forward with their dreams without an agent or a publisher.
I began editing the book version of Act Two, and continue to work on Act One and the Prologue.

Since I started publishing The Miracle in July I've written close to 80,000 words of my first novel with the encouragement of hundreds of people who have read, supported, and shared my interactive digital love story. And now I'm headed South to share my bliss with potentially hundreds more readers and supporters. All it took to get to this point? Hard work, determination, lots of gin and lemonade, and an unwavering faith in the rewards of following your bliss.

For those of you who are interested, my SXSW schedule is posted online. And, if you're going to SXSW 2010 as well (I'll be there all week) please hunt me down and say hello!