Dear Friends and Fans,

It has been a very long time since I sent out an update on this site, much less a full column. Many of you have very kindly taken the time to write to ask after my well-being, and thus I feel I owe you all an explanation.

My last major update was back in 2006, when I announced I was taking a maternity leave, as I was expecting my second son. I was figuring on taking about six months, and then easing back into a regular writing schedule.

It was a good plan, but one that failed to take into account, er, just about everything else in my life. Clever, no?

Fortunately, it's been good things keeping me busy. Our company, Scribendi.com, has been expanding steadily since that time; we've had to hire lots more contract and full-time staff and we moved into new offices in 2007. My first son, now four, plunged us into the world of homeschooling when he began demanding to learn how to read a couple of years ago; it's been fun trying to keep ahead of him. His brother, now two, appears to be on the same path.

So, what with one thing and another, the "start writing again" date kept getting pushed back until ... yikes!... here it is 2009 already, and our schedule looks more crowded than ever.

All is not lost though. I've taken some time over the holidays to rejig this website, moving it away from the Blogger platform to it's own domain. I'm going to republish all my previous work here on a weekly basis, and also make use of Twitter and other services to make even more frequent updates when I have thoughts, sites and fun things to share with you between columns.

And yes, I will get back into a regular schedule of new columns later this year. What with the economy shaping up the way it has been, I think we'll all be in need of some laughs soon.

In the meantime, I'd like to thank you all for your patience and loyalty. And I would also like to wish everyone a very happy, safe and prosperous new year!

Very sincerely,

Chandra