Maggie the Columnist

I've been blogging now for a few months and feel like I am slowly getting back into the writing groove that I maintained all through high school, college, and into teaching. I didn't realize how much I missed writing not for an assignment but for myself. This blog has been something of a scrapbook not only for my kids but for all of you loyal readers as well. Thanks for reading!

Thank goodness I have been honing my skills because I was called to duty on Monday by the Community Editor of our local paper, the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza. This woman, Jean Eick, is also a children's book author and her most recent book follows a bear cub as he is displaced during the forest fires of 2007 in South Lake Tahoe (yes, that's the kids and I on the far left at the book reading) http://www.tahoebonanza.com/article/20080516/COMMUNITY/336555654 .

Back to the real point of this post. Jean called me and asked if I would be willing to write a column for this week's Friday edition that would be a follow-up to an article that was done a year ago. At that time, four other expecting moms and I painted our pregnant bellies to look like pumpkins. http://www.tahoebonanza.com/article/20070921/NEWS01/109210051&parentprofile=search

I was hesitant at first but still agreed even with only two days to write. But once I started writing it only took me about thirty minutes to feel like I had something worth keeping. The result is this article published today... http://www.tahoebonanza.com/article/20081017/NEWS/810169950&parentprofile=search