& My Teaching During a Pandemic Dry Spell
I don’t know how I thought that I could balance teaching, writing, photographing, and advertising with self-care, healthy eating, working out, and trying to find a little fun during this school year.
I failed. Epically failed.
Now, that’s not fair. I’m kicking ass in many areas: I think I finally figured out our new online teaching platform, and I’ve completed numerous senior pictures, and I’ve sold a smattering of books. Cheers for successes! I’ve started working out again, staying steady at five days a week, which has built more strength in my body. I’m eating a bit better, but I’m leaning a bit more on my beverage consumption than I would like. I have had a few small vacations (mostly to Disney), started reading again, and I’m fully vaccinated. I have a trip to Lexington, Kentucky on my agenda in a few weeks so I can spend it resting, knitting, crocheting, reading, and writing…basically whatever brings my tired little heart joy.
Folks, it has been a year. I feel constantly at odds with so much out of my control that I’m afraid that I may have reached a point where I’ve started to just not care what people think of me anymore.
That, in itself, is absolutely freeing.
I think that is why, I finally took an idea that has been floating in my head for a few years and actually jotted notes on it. It’s exciting to see an actual outline of a freaking TRILOGY right there in black and white. From my brain to words.
This is not my usual way of writing a story. I tend to have a general idea of how I want the story to begin and just start writing. On the book I started last spring, I got about a third of the way done before I paused to reflect on a character development. When I finally figured out that character, I needed to research a few things, which has led me to a few interviews and I’m waiting on one or two more.
Now this. I can’t say much about it because I don’t know everything about my characters. But based on my notes I know that it will be a story about sisterhood and sisters (this will take research), magic and the elements (this will take research), young and old love (more research!), and power struggles (no research needed). I did research names for over an hour and I’m loving what I’ve come up with.
The fact that I’m including magic into a real world setting is scary and exciting because it is far out of my wheelhouse. But I’m willing to dive in.
The story is there, waiting to be told.
