August 29, 2011
Best of Intentions
I haven’t had much interest in writing for the last five months. I’ve looked at my novel once but other than journaling and the tech writing I do for work, I haven’t written a stitch.
Life, the ever present obstacle to writers’ everywhere. Sigh, it would all make sense if I were at liberty to discuss it. I saw an episode of House where a blogger (played by the actress formerly known as Donna on That 70′s Show) wrote about every detail of her life. This blog would have been a great way to reach out to those who went through the same difficulties. But, I’m just not the kind of person to publish that level of detail about my life. It affects not only me but those around me.
However, I have been engaged in happier distractions as well. I found out in May that I was pregnant. Let me tell you, that first month, all it took was for me to sit still for two and half seconds and I was asleep. There was certainly no sitting down to a computer to write.
I agreed to be co-chair of the mentor committee for Tri It For Life, a non-profit organization that helps promote healthy lifestyles and motivates women to move and complete their first triathlon. Wow, that took up even more time than I realized. Not that I didn’t enjoy it but it is A LOT of work. I can’t even begin to tell you how I feel watching those women, some of whom have been everything to everyone except themselves, work so hard to become swimmers, bikers, runners. They are wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, friends…and now, triathletes.
Mentoring with this group is a passion that overtakes even my desire to write. What story could I tell that could be more empowering that what these women are accomplishing?
But, I have taken steps to pare down my life a little so I can prepare for the baby and hopefully, that means I can find my writing muse again too. Step one, write something that was not for work or catharsis. Check. Step two, quit obsessing on Chapter One of my book and finish writing the damn thing. Okay, step two might take a little longer. 
