Hopping off the treadmill.

I got my last published piece back today, along with a couple complimentary copies of Paper Crafts' You Go, Girl!--their latest idea book.

I have a small "BFF" frame on page 143, with my favorite picture ever of my nieces Gianna and Evelyn. Check it out if you happen to see it!

This is the first time in...I guess maybe five years?...that I haven't had any projects whatsoever pending publication. I haven't submitted anything since last summer, and now I have nothing to look forward to seeing in print.

It's sort of sad, I guess...I do miss getting the checks and seeing my work in a magazine. But doing the work on spec, with no idea what would get picked up, if anything, and needing to use "latest/greatest" products on every project--well, it does get old. You tend to forget how wonderful it is to pick up absolutely anything you want to use and make something "just for you" with it.

I've let my scrapbook resume lapse, and although I still get most of the e-mail submission calls, I'm just not feeling the urge. I'm trying to be okay with that. I had a lot of ego bound up in publishing and teaching, and without that, my ego is sort of running around like a lost puppy! But it just doesn't feel like the time is right to pursue "scrapbooking as career" anymore. (How many more "quotes" can I use?) I've been burned out for a long time and just kept trying to push past it, which just made me more burned out. It's silly to do that.

But I never say never, so maybe someday I'll hop back on the treadmill and start submitting again. For now, it's nice to do other stuff.