I’ve been writing fiction quite a bit lately, thanks in no small part to a small but mighty writer’s group a few of my friends from high school and I formed at the start of the year. We all wanted to be writers when we grew up, and lo, here we are doing it. My goal is to complete the draft of the first book in my Fairy Princess trilogy* by the end of the year and although this goal involves writing/wading through notes at the page of about 5,000 words a week from here to December 31, I think it’s achievable.

I love these women, in my group, and their writing, and I feel accountable to our collective hopes and dreams.

What will suffer is sleep, housework, and my workout schedule. I can handle that.

I keep writing blog posts in my head, but they rarely land on the page. I could blame child-rearing, working, smart phones, or anything else. But mostly it’s habit and practice. It’s strange now to think that I used to blog (pseudonymously) once a day with no concern at all.

A few notes on the last few months:

• I had a big cancer scare this winter. During that scare, I received a lot of clarity. As a result, I went on a road trip this summer, just me and Noah and Liam as Carl couldn’t take the time off work. It was amazing, although I missed Carl tremendously. I now know why parents take road trips with their kids. It’s because they really do provide that mysterious in-this-together feeling, all day, every day. Our trip was charmed – great weather, more to see and do than we could take in, and a very nice stop with my sister and her family. I’m hungry for me.
• I’m very glad I made the career move that I did, because getting away from media/marketing/stories for the last two years has given me the breathing room to find my own quirky spin on things. Working at the Academy has pushed me backwards through my career’s full skill set right down to my very first job,  and at the bottom of it all, well, here I am. That said, if anyone thinks smaller business means being less busy, I have an eye opening experience for you!
• Working mostly with young people makes me much more optimistic than think pieces on the Internet do. That said, I do worry a lot that the voices of ordinary people who want to, for lack of a better phrase, do good…be kind, live a good life without doing harm to others…are gradually becoming faint in comparison to people who would divide us. All the more reason to work on that voice thing.

*Probably not exactly what it sounds like.