I love unexpected twists in books. There's something very satisfying about being taken by surprise. At least in the story world.
In life - not so much.
Back in the spring, I had been toying with the idea of taking a blog break - something decadent, like, a couple of weeks to make some headway on my latest WIP. But things didn't play out as expected. My last post was five months ago. Five. Months. I blame it on a string of real life plot twists, including taking in my niece's three children at the same time my mother was in the ICU with congestive heart failure. All summer long - and even still today -I feel like I'm living a whole new life. During those first few months, I honestly didn't see how I would ever find time to write again. Which was excruciating. Each day that passed without my being able to write, I felt like something inside of me died. Then I received a rejection on a requested revision that had been out for nearly six months. And I thought: that's it. It's a sign. I have to give this up.
But the next day I woke up with renewed determination. I have been working at this for too long. I have come too close. I am not giving up. I sent out a new round of queries and had another full request within days. I participated in Pitmad and garnered six interested agents. I still don't know where things will lead, but I do know that I'm back in the writing life. It's not the same life I had last spring. It's busier, messier, more complicated. But it's also fuller, and richer, and full of unexpected surprises. It may have taken me a while to find my way back, and I definitely have more to juggle, by I'm still a writer, and I'm in this writing life for good.