Ten Years on the Swingset!

Wow. It’s been a long time since I’ve started a blog post with this logo! For seven years, every Friday on the Writing Playground started with a blog featuring my Smarty Pants graphic. Ten years ago, Kimberly Lang, Kira Sinclair, Dani Wade, Marilyn Baxter and I decided to start a website. The Writing Playground was the place we created for writers to learn and play. We interviewed authors and industry professionals, shared craft articles, recommended books, drooled over hotties in our locker, and I loved every minute of it.

The intention of the playground was to gain visibility in the writing industry, as we were all unpublished at the time. Since we launched, all of us have published and sadly, maintaining the site became harder and harder. I became better known as Andrea than as Smarty Pants. Although we may not post the way we used to, the friendship and the spirit of the Writing Playground is still very much alive. These ladies are my best friends and I’d never make it through the ups and downs of this business without them.

The picture I’m sharing is of the five of us (nicknamed the Children) and our mentors Linda Howard, Linda Winstead Jones and Beverly Barton (nicknamed the Mavens). On our one year anniversary, we invented a drink that mixed sparkling apple cider with asti spumante. Since we hung out on a ‘playground’ we named the drink the Teeter-Totter. We celebrated with the drink every year when we got together.As part of our birthday celebration, we’re giving away a $50 gift card to Out of Print clothing. To enter, visit all five of the Playfriend’s websites (listed below). Each picture has a theme word. Enter all five of the theme words at www.andrealaurence.com/contest and we’ll pick a random winner from the correct entries.

For the contest, my birthday keyword is “TEETERTOTTER.” Gather the other words at the websites below:

www.booksbykimberly.com

www.kirasinclair.com

www.daniwade.com

www.marilynbaxter.com

SP (AKA Andrea)