It’s been seven months since I sat down to write a blog post, over two months since I’ve written a word of my novel and fifteen months since I decided to start this crazy project. My original goal in June of 2015 was to write a book in one year, a seemingly attainable objective for that timeframe. But a lot has happened in the past year and in fact a lot has changed in just the last few months. We’ve bounced around traveling with our family to three continents and at the conclusion of our amazing trip, in a very short five-week span decided, planned and executed a move over six hundred miles away. That’s a lot of numbers. Enough numbers to make my head spin, maybe even abandon the notion that I can finish a novel. And yet I find myself at my keyboard tapping away, drawn back to my late night habit.

I’m rusty. The words don’t flow as easily as I want them to and it’s frustrating. Like anything else writing takes practice and daily attention which I have not granted.  But the fire still burns brightly with my desire to finish, the need to express myself in written word. My motivation to bring my characters to life has not diminished – I am excited for others to know them like I do. I think about them every day, my dear friends trapped in those pages waiting for the black and white marks to lift them off of their flat plane. They have lives to lead and people to take care of; I am responsible for helping them get there! This compulsion continues to propel me forward, to not lose hope in my labor of love.

Something about continuing my writing and this novel in particular feels like home to me. It takes me back to my living room in our beautiful house in Laurel Brooke. There is a cup of tea and a small ramekin of chocolate chips on the end table, the golden glow of the single lamp warming the room and shining down onto my hands as I type. I may not have all of my extended family and dear friends close by, but I do have the familiarity of my writing. I guess this means I have made it past the most trying stages of relocation if I can find my original self in the new abode. I know that despite the myriad of changes surrounding me, this is something I can always come back to and feel comforted by regardless of where I am in the world.

I remain at the halfway point of my story, which has been the same position for some time now. But I have gathered some experiences, new friends and fresh perspectives these last months that have helped focus my lens of observation in a way that I hope will bring rejuvenation to my craft. So many friends have asked about my writing and I appreciate the continual words of encouragement in the absence of any content. Marie Curie said that “we must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves.” I’ll finish this thing yet.