So, I've finally decided to do it. I am quitting my job and turning my more serious attention to my school and my writing career. There is simply no way for me to write a book and prepare it for publication if I'm working and going to school AND keeping Paul happy. It's crazy, but it's time for me to give myself a chance.
When I was a freshman in college, for some reason, I went through what a friend of mine called an "artistic depression." I was working on three different books at the time (only one of which I finished, by the way) and I suddenly hated everything I was writing. It was all so flawed and horrible and I decided that I couldn't be a writer afterall. So I spent about a week in misery, going through every possible occupation in my mind, trying to find something else to do with my life. I don't know why I tend to lean toward the dramatic, but it was a really awful time for me. I evaluated every option, and each one seemed worse than the next.
I came to the conclusion at the end of that week that there was really nothing else I wanted to do with my life. I didn't want to be a secretary or a dental hygienist (if that's even how you spell it...) or a nurse or a truck driver. I knew that I would loathe any kind of job that wasn't writing. And so, I kept at it and wrote steadily until I got married a year ago. And then...
But I'm back now! I started my new book with a very fun first chapter. Characters I hadn't even planned popped out of the woodwork and gave themselves fun dialogue and interesting personalities. I laughed and had fun and forgot to be self-conscious about being out of practice.
I am SO EXCITED to be working on a project and I look forward to actually having time to do my homework. My main character is named Alvar, and I will probably refer to this as "my Alvar book" although its real title will be The Stone of Alvar.
I put a random picture of Paul and me because I thought it looked like we were about to jump into the lake. You could say this decision is kind of like a jumping off point. Boy, I gotta get thin like I was in that picture again!
Farewell until next time.
