Since I started this blog in the summer of 2008, the focus and the audience has changed somewhat.  What started as a way for me to keep my friends and family posted on life and work in China has evolved into a combination of my travel diary for this year of transition, a chronicle of my progress in writing my first novel, and just a general outlet for musings on books I’m reading or anything else that is on my mind.  The stats page for my site tells me that the number of readers has gone up a bit over the months (with a huge spike last week when two of the artists from the Love Tells the Story tour tweeted a link to my review on Twitter)—though, don’t get me wrong, this is still a rather small-time blog.  I’m OK with that.  Slowly and steadily I’m finding an audience for what I write, and I’m enjoying the time I have to focus more on writing than I ever have in my life.

Now that I’ve finished my first draft (you can read about that in “Happy but not Satisfied”), I thought it would be good to post links to a few past blog entries to recap what I’m doing during this year and how that came about.  Some of you have read these before, but others may have missed them or may be new to the blog.  Rather than rewriting a new summary of it all, it’s easier to point you in the direction of what’s already out there.

Recent Silence First mention of my wanting to write a series of books on Lydia’s life growing up in Yunnan.

Finishing Well The best explanation I’ve posted about how I came to the decision to leave China and start writing full time.

What to do with our talents A personal favorite essay, about glorifying God by using and enjoying our talents, which is my hope for this year and all my years.

The End of Idle Chatter How I stopped talking about writing and started (gasp!) writing.

Things I’ve Learned So Far About Networking A list of ways online networking has helped me (or not) in the process of telling Lydia’s story.

Texas to Alaska Why I went to the arctic to work on my book this summer, and why I am going to Washington in January.

Other People’s Thoughts: Rewriting Writing vs Having Written.

Alaska to Texas A summary of my two months writing in the arctic.

About Changes A clarification of my purpose in this year of travel and writing.

Happy but not Satisfied Celebrating the finish of my very rough first draft.  Or my very first rough draft.