What a year it's been! I feel like I've been running up an endless sandhill - taking two steps forwards then sliding back down by half. But at the end of it I have a new novel ready for editing in the new year (and due out in June 2013), another class of novelists are a wee step closer to their writing dreams, and I've spent many hours in the company of smart, funny people who stimulate my brain. How lucky we are, those of us who are able to indulge our great love - the love of writing. It's a slow burning love, one that creeps up incrementally until you realise your life would be bereft without it. I'm so incredibly grateful to have found my bliss (as Joseph Campbell would call it) - and every day the stories keep on growing in my head.
I wonder, sometimes, if this incessant story generation is really an attempt to block my worries about the world. When I sit and really contemplate what is going on nausea rises in my stomach and I fear for the long-term well-being of my kids and any future generations. But this fear also drives the writing - pushing me to examine themes informed by the latest news - in an attempt to find a silver-lining - or some secret knowledge that will help us all move forwards into this frightening future. To eye to fear full on.
But, whatever the reason, I'm glad it's motivated me to find this form of self expression - to really investigate the inner 'me' - and try on other character's lives for size.