Sticking One's Toe into the Water

In January of 2011 I changed my life by retiring from the being a busy professional in the dynamic work force of a busy children's hospital, to the more sedate life of a retiree. Or so I thought! It seems that over a year after this momentous change, I can't say that I have slowed down a great deal. Yes, I no longer have to travel to work, or put in long hours, or heft up my body (or someone else) off mats on the floor. But I now do other things that fill my life to the brim. I find I am having more fun, and discovering again things that I have always loved to do.

Retiring seems to be a time of redefining oneself. You find that some of the things you have always wanted to do - you no longer crave. On the other hand things which you never had the time to refine before, you now you have time to explore. This happened to me when I decided to try again to write a novel in the month of November on the NaNoWriMo web site. I had tried in 2009 to concoct a story of 50,000 words and had written until I had more than the required amount of words - thus winning the challenge. But I didn't have a story! Just a beginning and lots of little incidents, but no ending at all. I put it all away as I realized writing a book and working was just crazy for me. Once I retired, I did some traveling (which I loved!); joined a senior group; as well as a book club and turned my thoughts again to writing good stories.

This time when November rolled around in 2011, I was armed with an idea and a muse!  I spied it when I was in an import store - A peacock necklace. There surely was a story behind that necklace somewhere ... Having had some encounters with peacocks and knowing the area where I live has a history of live peacocks, a story began to spring into my mind. When I say 'spring' I mean like a spring - at first a slow drizzle flowing out of the synapses of my brain. Then a steady flow of ideas that I had to make sure to write into a notebook or I would lose them. And finally the beginning, middle, and end gushed out onto the notebook pages. All I had to do was write it! Fifty thousand words in a month! How did I do?

I told all my friends what I was doing. I told my doctors, my hairdresser, my massage therapist! I told anyone that would listen, including waitresses and cashiers! Once I announced what I intended to do I found I had made my own cheer leading squad!  I found I truly enjoyed the process of writing a story - of putting down words on a computer screen. So that is what this blog is about. My journey of learning about the big scary world of putting together one word at a time to make a story. A story strong enough to be thought of as a novel; good enough to be a book. This Blog is also about redefining myself from a pediatric physical therapist - retired, to being an active author. I invite you to join me in my journey and be my online cheering section.