Thoughtful

I have had a story buzzing through my mind for a good number of years (10!) now. I have always meant to get it all down o paper, not for the purposes of necessarily having it published or widely read but just to get it out of my head. To put the characters to rest on the page so they stop popping up in my mind all the time.

I was part way through the first half of a very clunky first draft when I met my darling husband. Then I lost my desire to write as I was so busy enjoying falling in love and the consequent beginning of a family. All of you who have followed me here know what happened after my pregnancy, and with little twins relying on me and a struggle to regain my health any thoughts of writing went by the wayside.

Until the end of last year (Can you believe 2010 is now last year!?!). I have been seeing a counsellor to help me unravel my feeling around being chronically ill, and I bought up how much I enjoyed writing and yet I never did it anymore. That story was still there, waiting to be written. It has evolved over time and my first attempt and restarting it hasn't gone well. I did no planning and jumped right in, quickly losing interest as it just didn't feel right.

I also tried writing about other things. Short stories, stories based on my illness, anything but none of those eventuated as my old characters kept sneaking forward.

So now I feel like I need to have a proper go at this. Once an for all get this idea out on paper and see where it takes me.

My goal for 2011 is not to complete a novel. It's not even to write a certain number of pages. Simply I would like to get the workings of this idea out on paper. A plan for where I would go with this story, what the characters would be like. To see if it would work before I pour however many hours into writing it.

Wish me luck! These characters have been haunting me for 10 years already so we'll see how hard it is to shake them!

xoxo