I love that journal writing was strongly encouraged when I was young. I have writings all the way back to when I was in junior high.
Nowadays, it’s easier than ever to go into a digital folder and read through my past entries. I call them “morning pages” and use this journaling as a way to clear my mind before working on a project. Today, I decided to review what I was writing at this time last year as so much has changed in my life since that time.
Then and Now
One thing that stood out was that I had just finished “The Resurrection Incident,” which I would publish late in December of last year. I was already planning to work on “Sentenced” as my next project. I had pondered working on “Goddess Game” and was even thinking of publishing it under a pen name as it is for adults and not my usual young adult age range.
This is interesting because I am close to finishing “Goddess Game” right now and plan to have it in the hands of beta readers within the week. It is a nice reminder that I am able to keep producing books. I don’t live with a concern that I won’t be able to finish. That’s kinda an important part for me in starting a writing career.
My confidence comes from the fact that I do enough preliminary work on the novel that I have no fear about getting it done. The writing of it just takes time. And, sometimes new ideas grow out of the actual writing. That is what really makes it fun!
A Life Realignment
Something else that stood out in my last-year journaling was that I had an internal/external battle going on with wanting to shift my life situation and not seeing a great way to do that. It is a bit wild to me how things began to shift from November of last year to February of this year (when I gave my notice at my job with a resignation date at the beginning of April).
Things took the biggest turn when my husband came home from his morning ruck on January 1st this year and said that maybe we should move to South Carolina. This was a surprising suggestion as we had determined in the past that we would probably stay in Raleigh, North Carolina or move towards the North Carolina mountains if we wanted a change. However, once that mental adjustment was made to South Carolina, lots of things began falling into place.
I called my mom and told her our plans and asked her to be on the lookout for a house for us (we were looking online, but my mom was local and it seems like she knows everybody). Turns out that my mom’s sister was planning to sell her house – it wasn’t even on the market yet – and when we came to look at it, it was perfect. From there, my husband and I were able to make everything else work and moved down to our new home in April of this year.
From Maze to Magic
These days, I’m more grateful than ever for where I am in life. I have a graphic that I made with a completed maze that says “You know the way, enjoy the journey.” This idea occurred to me one day and I want to stay present to it. I have it sublimated on the mousepad at my computer as well.
(Grab the mug here if it speaks to you! ☕)
I have a tendency to think through everything and plan it all out and make a reminder list I can check off. And that certainly has its place. I can also see that when I open up to allow things beyond my control to show up, magic occurs that is even better than I imagined.
I’m glad I had the nudge to look back at my writings. I’m glad my husband and I fearlessly (ok, maybe we were a little nervous) ventured forth down a new path because it was not apparent it was going to happen at this time last year.
It makes me wonder what is beyond other areas I feel nervous about. I am certainly curious and have my pokey stick on standby. 🙂