It's working. I've written one entire story and did a complete edit on "Life in the Valley." If you click on the link, you will notice that it's gone because it sucked. The dialogue was unpleasant, and I didn't know what to do with Lanny at the end and it just petered out. And the name Lanny sucked. This guy - the one with the asshole brother and the pregnant girlfriend - he's a tall skinny dude. He really is a Lanny, but it's a bad fictional name. I can't be married to it, so I've got to come up with something else. Madeleine gave me three suggestions, Quinn, Clausiana, and David. I'm starting to like David. Davey.

Thanks for all the supportive comments. I said I don't pander, but I should have added "intentionally." I'll address some of your questions herein, because they were thoughtful and helpful:

Debbie: If I'm slack, you're wack. Heh heh. Sure, call me a slacker. But not to my face and not to anyone I know and not out loud. But go ahead!

Meno: Mother Jones is a worthy and excellent periodical. I would never kick them out of bed for eating (whole grain, vegan) crackers.

Wordgirl: It's you I think of when I debated whether to move on from freelancing. I think your talents are so obvious and natural and, well, inspiring. I understand the need for accountability, so for now I'm writing in a self-paced Creative Writing course. I hope to join some writing groups, as well.

Kathie: No, not abandoning the blog. It's just time. It's not on my side. So I had to choose between primarily writing here/commenting around everywhere and writing fiction.

Orange: Yes, I hope there's a good writers' group. I'm a little intimidated, having existed in the vacuum of the internet for far too long. And getting paid to write would be excellent, but I've realized it's not really my short-term goal. I want to be a very good writer of fiction. That's what I want.

V-Grrrl: I think I've got my voice, and I know I want to write fiction. Now I just want to produce something I'm proud of.

Mark: You nailed it. True art. Your discussion is exactly the inner monologue I've been entertaining for the last couple months. The problem? I have time for one endeavor only. True art or "redirected creativity." This week, as I said, I got one story done. It was in ten minute increments, and half of the stuff was written while I sat on the toilet and kids were in the tub, hanging off of the back of my chair, or locked in high chairs with mini-boxes of Froot Loops. I sent some of my work to my writing instructor and, while supportive, he pointed out that in every conversation my characters are "snorting" at each other, incessantly. Which is because I end up editing about 5 sentences at a time and don't have an opportunity to read through entire scenes before I submit them.

Maybe between stories or when I've got writers' block I'll spend more time here or work on some freelance pieces. In the meantime, I'm just trying to get good. As you can see, I don't want to abandon the thing altogether, and that was never my intention. I like too many of you too much.