This Is My New Life

By G. Ellen

There have been many times in my life when I felt like things had stalled. Kind of like I'd been left behind while everyone else was going forward. We're all familiar with the phrase “if you're not going forward, you're going backward.” It’s so true, especially when it comes to your gifts or talents.

I guess we usually bring those things on ourselves by getting tired of doing monotonous/everyday things all the time. Tired of simply being--worn down by all the challenges in our lives. Sometimes it's a physical tired, sometimes it's a mental or emotional tired. We just can't take any more.

After you give yourself a couple of days, perhaps weeks–let's not think months or years–it's time to pick yourself up and get back into the flow of things. Perhaps something you read gets you going. Perhaps it's someone you know--a spouse or a sibling or a good friend. It doesn't really matter what causes the trigger--you are just grateful something has.

I've been in a slump for the past month. I'm sure part of it is due to starting work again (yes, I'm not a money making writer yet) and my days have become quite busy. By the time I get home, I'm not feeling like facing another computer and trying to explore my thoughts in writing, so things stall out. I used to have time to write at my work–but that hasn't happened so far this year.

And then, physically, things interrupt. I've been sick for almost a week and finally took a day off work, hoping to get a handle on it. It didn't help, but I can't afford to take any more time off. So I found myself asking–why? Why do I want to do this in the first place? Is it really something I need or want to do?

I read one of my favorite books while I was home sick. It's called The Summerhouse by Jude Deveroux. Even though it's total fiction and none of it could ever happen, I always put the book down at the end with a stronger resolve to make more of my life. To make it more of what I want and not make myself a slave to the life thrust upon me.

I believe this is what we are striving for in our writing. We want the reader (or at least I do) to come away from reading our novel with a feeling of satisfaction, enjoyment and, perhaps, a determination to do better with their world. I want my readers to have a desire to have
romance in their daily lives, because I am a romantic–ask my husband. ;)

Perhaps we can make those periods of dryness shorter when we find the real life we want to lead. We can wake each morning with the thought “this is my new life, what do I want to do with it?” We can't change anything about yesterday, but we have today and tomorrow. I feel like the Capitol One commercial "what's in your wallet?", only I'm asking "What's new in your life?"