The Hawaiian Alphabet has only 13 letters--and "J" isn't one of them.

Yep folks, I'm back *insert Jack Nicholson's voice from The Shining here*.

Hawaii was AMAZING! The beauty, the views, the ocean waves, the pineapple, the music, the food, the sand, the snorkeling, the fish, AND the WHALES! Yes, I saw real life, in their natural environment, whales! Humpback whales spouting water through their blow holes, tossing their tails above the waves while diving and resurfacing, frolicking as they swam just yards from our boat while I watched with glistening eyes full of awe.

How freaking awesome is that? (Just a taste for you. It takes a minute to load, but you'll like it)

How could I not come back refreshed, super stoked, and ready to attack my zombie western romance with full gusto, right? I'm gonna finish that sucker, I am. And I mean it this time.

Setting my laptop aside for 11 days, I think, was just what I needed. I'm ready to write, which is something I've not been able to say for quite awhile. Writer's block is a nasty disease, but I'm starting to think Hawaii is the cure (try that out on your spouse the next time you struggle to write, "Honey, I'm blocked. I think I need to go to Hawaii. If you love me, and want to see me progress as a writer, then you should let me go." Just tell them that Angela Scott recommends it--because I do. I really, really do).

AND boy was I surprised to open my blog and see the flurry of activity that has been taking place here since I've been away--holy cow! I have had more hits than I've ever had, more retweets on twitter, and additional followers on my blog and twitter accounts too. Wow. I need to go away more often, I guess. You guys like me better when I'm not here :) I'm not sure how to take that.

Now I'm back and I need to get busy. I need to go check out all the new blogs that added their names to my BEST DARN BLOGS EVER! file. There are like 60+ of you and I know I've only visited about 40.  (Yeah, that got a little crazy, but I'm excited to meet you all and I promise, I will do my best to be a pretty good follower and pal. If I haven't visited your site yet, just know I'm on my way).

I need to participate in the A-Z challenge too but (a great big "BUT" here) I just got my writing mojo back and I need to get back to writing--really writing on my WIP, so I may have to take that one a bit slowly. I hope you  A-Z greats will understand. I signed up for that challenge at a time I thought I could do it all. I'm quickly coming to realize that I can't. Besides, there's like over a thousand of you, where the heck do I even begin? Is it even possible to get to you all? If I do, I'll never write again. That's a certainty.

I heard a quote from a fellow writer and author of Elliot and the Goblin Wars, Jennifer A.Nielsen, in which she said (paraphrasing here) "that writers need to keep their eye on the summit of the mountain they're climbing. Every writer's summit is different. Mine is different from yours. But, we need to make sure that everything we're doing is heading us in the direction of that summit. If it's not, then we'll  find out,  a little too late, that we've been climbing the wrong mountain all along and our goal will never be achieved."

I think that's what happened to me. I took my eye off the summit and I ended up on a different mountain. It was a good mountain--beautiful and wonderful--but it was the wrong mountain for me. Writer's block set in, took over, and crippled my ability to write, and my WIP suffered.

But I'm back on the foothills of my mountain--the right mountain this time--and my eye is on the summit. I know what I need to do. Write. Really write. So that's what I'm going to do. Finishing the first draft of my WIP is my primary goal, my first little summit which will lead me to to bigger summits. Everything else is secondary. Blogging, twittering (though fun and addicting) has to come second or I'll end up on the wrong mountain again.

The key is balance. I suck at balance. But I sure am going to give it an awful good try.

Wish me luck.

How do you keep everything in perspective--family, writing, blogging, platform building? I'd appreciate your advice, because like I said, I suck at striking balance. My scales are always tipped in the wrong direction.