Pictures taken
on your phone are never the best, but this is what I had for a head shot today in Fort Bragg, California. I am a happy, relaxed, content girl! This is my writing weekend.
First off, I would like to give thanks to our wonderful veterans! Today is Veteran’s Day, and I would be remiss if not to send out a proper nod of gratitude towards all our men and women who have served and especially to those who gave all they had! Americans are so blessed!
But since the fires that ravaged Lake County happened last summer of 2015, I not only started this journey towards writing my novel, but the most recent fire, (the Clayton Fire 2016), brought me to a stand still. I’m working this weekend to get back on the horse! This book won’t finish itself!
More phone pics
but I had to share that this is the view from my hotel I am writing from tonight. I will use my actual camera tomorrow for better shots, but by the time I arrived late this afternoon, I was tired and just so happy to be in this space! This was the quick shot I took with my phone before unloading my car.
Last year in November, I came to Fort Bragg in the hopes of writing an award winning short story. I didn’t win of course, but nonetheless, I started up an idea. After writing about my grandfather in WWII, I sat in my then hotel, and dreamed up the idea for my current novel, Out Of The Ashes. Before I left that weekend, I’d written up an outline, (that has morphed into something bigger now), about a love story between two people, brought together in the aftermath of the Valley Fire, in Lake County, California.
So by the spring of 2016, I was certain it would be done by summer’s end. I got hung up in May and June, where the book was still in research mode, with many interviews, both formal and informal. I couldn’t have imagined that after such a horrific fire in September of 2015, we’d be hit by one quite similar in August of 2016! The devil himself had returned and the book was unequivocally halted!
Although I’ll admit, I have had terrible writer’s block, anxiety about whether or not I could finish what I started, and basic uncertainty about my talents all together, I am finally shaking off the doubt and procrastination. I’m ready to finish the book!
So with encouraging words from Elizabeth Gilbert, (watching her Youtube Tedtalks videos on writing), I’ve realized all writers have the same issues as I’ve been experiencing. So I am going to just do it! Just do the work. It will make me feel better to get my creative juices flowing again, and once I start, it’s like a small stream flowing to a river, that flows to the sea. It begins slowly, then takes on a greater momentum, before exploding into this vastness that will enlighten me.
In the end, I hope to come up with a product that I can share with all of you and be proud of. I am hopeful to finish by years end. Not going to put that kind of pressure on myself like I did before, but deadlines can be good. They keep you focused.
With peace, and quiet, and no distractions of housework this weekend, I am focused on the book and just wanted to touch base with all of you to say, thanks for the support you all have shown me. I am going to make this my Annual Writing Weekend. The coast is so inspirational!
I wish you all the peace and joy you need to nourish your souls! God Bless!
