Loss

Earlier this week I lost my best friend, my cat Tiki. For the past 19 years, we have gone through everything together. I alternate between missing her like crazy and being unable to internalize that she is gone. The day after her death I wanted to do nothing but curl up in my bed and cry but I couldn't because I had to spend an entire day doing musical rehearsal with inner city children. I had to get up and keep going with my life. AND IT SUCKED. But a few days later I think it probably sucked less than crying alone at home. I am still sad but making myself do my day to day activities has helped me remember the happy times and be glad for all the years I had her with me.

Crossroads and Detours

Check the road named after one of the oldest families in Radnor, OH. Look familiar?

On Saturday, I posted over at TGNA about my first year on this writing adventure with my WIP Goodbye Good-Goody Girl. Check it out here: http://www.thegreatnovelingadventure.com/2014/02/lavender-checks-in-2/  And it really has gotten me thinking about writing. My writing, writing as a career, the way writers I know on Twitter talk about writing. 

It is so easy to feel like there is a right and wrong way to do the author thing and at the end of the day that is just not true. Sure, it would be awesome if I was pitched an idea, got a huge advance, and could write full-time before achieving critical acclaim and winning at life. But in today's publishing world that is less and less common and that is ok! It doesn't make me any less of a writer and it makes me writer pals who successfully work full-time/have kids/etc total superheroes. 

So about a year ago I got the idea for G4 and I thought I'd have it finished by the end of Summer 2013 but that didn't happen because I got a job teaching summer enrichment and it ate all my energy. Then I thought I'd have it done my the end of 2013 and somehow the November and December yielded embarrassingly low word counts and lots of frustration so that didn't happen. Now I am in the middle of musical season and choreographing for 3 shows so I'm creatively tapped out. Sure, those sound like excuses and maybe they are, but they are also facts of life. I have been busy in a weird way so I haven't written a lot. But guess what? I love what I have written and I am enjoying the journey, detours and all. 

I am taking the scenic route but I haven't yet felt the need to stop at a crossroads and make a deal with  a demon (sorry I've been binge watching Supernatural with my boyfriend all weekend). I am writing my book, my way, in my time. Everyone should do the same.