My simple living led to new directions, and I neglected my blog. I still declutter and live a slow, simple life which has allowed some traveling and changes in what I want to do every day.
When all the drama flows away and your mind clears, you can hear your inner desires and feel its pull. You can’t ignore it so you explore, little by little.
Writing Stories
When I was a small child visiting family in Brooklyn, New York, my grandfather took me for walks and told me stories he made up using the people around us as the characters. The pool with children playing became the stage for a western saga.
I wrote stories when I learned to write and illustrated them. Since I’m crafty, I made little characters sewn with scraps of fabric and used hair pins inside to pose them. My stories distracted me from the turmoil of my family life. My safe place.
Isn’t that why we read? To distract us from life, to show us an alternative to our current life. Writing your own stories does that and more. It helps you work out your issues by making your characters work though obstacles and challenges, the conflicts of your story.
Writing Novels
So I started a novel during NaNoWriMo in 2018 about a witch in a western town. I liked it but it needed work. I worked through 2019 off and on while dealing with a chronic illness and then rewrote the thing in NaNoWriMo in 2019. Much better this time.
But a problem arose. A vital character, not in the book, but influences the protagonist needs her own story. Yes, a series. So I’ve written book two and now need to write book one. While another character arises for book three. Oh, geez.
I’m working on the first book of the series. Well, really I’m struggling with it.
The first book I wrote, I used index cards for my scenes which I learned from Holly Lisle’s classes and when I struggled with a scene; I grabbed another card and kept going.
While I was traveling in January through the southwest, I brainstormed my scenes in my notebook (never leaves my side – haha) which isn’t the best long-time solution. You can cross out scenes but it’s hard to add scenes or move them around. So I started a spreadsheet. For some strange reason, I’m reluctant to put the middle scenes in. So it’s time for the trusty index cards again so I can make some progress.
The next struggle will be the romance scenes. Yeah, it’s a struggle. But I will work through it.
But this all happened because I simplified my life so I could focus on what is important to me. Not family or society expectations. It’s what my heart wants and I smile more for no reason. I feel joy in the peace of my day. And that’s what I ever wanted.
Green Chameleon
