I guess the hardest part of starting a story is at the beginning.

It’s been a long time since I’ve shown up on here. But I’m writing again.

I’m writing

Typing this brings tears to my eyes and a deep knowing and relief in my heart.

We had a harrowing few years in our family.

If you know me well or if you’ve been on my socials, you know that we went through a mental health journey when my daughter became a teenager. It started at age 12.

And it continues today.

Maintaining and being proactive in her mental health will always be a huge part of our life and definitely at the forefront. But I am very happy and praising God to say that she is in an excellent season right now.

She is thriving.

She has hope and possibilities.

And this is a day I never thought that we would achieve.

It’s always such a blessing to chat with her every day and see just how much has changed in these last six years. And witnessing those moments that I never realized or never thought would be coming or even happen.

But I think the biggest blessing and the biggest relief is that she’s in a good place and that she’s thriving and happy and healthy, both mentally and physically.

And with that, also, is the relief that comes with being able to write again. Fully and completely feel like I have the resonance and the backbone and the capacity to write again. There are so many words coming up for me right now that I can’t even pinpoint which one.

Sometimes words can’t even express the season, the time, the day you’re in. But it’s all good. God is good. I am good.

So right now I write. And this week I am finishing up my first ever middle grade fiction.

If you knew me a few years ago and have followed my journey, back in possibly 2023, I had a Kindle Vella. (We’ll call it my “Kindle Vella Era.”) And the premise of my Kindle Vella was to literally just write out whatever came out. It was a totally by-the-seat-of-my-pants story.

I literally just sat down and started typing. It was episodic. I wrote it very much like a streaming series. A TV show. How I would see a show unfold in my head.

And I loved it.

I loved everything about it. I loved the characters that came out. I loved the synchronicities. I loved how I started writing and I would just write a whole episode and be done. And then the next week I would write another.

And I loved it so much that, when Kindle Vella ended, I had to see this book be in print.

And so that is my journey now. And this journey is different than my past journeys. I have several self-published books on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and in other places that you can purchase them. Some are available in paperback; some are e-book only.

But this fiction book, this fiction book baby of mine, is my first foray into traditional publishing. And my goal is next week to start pitching to agents.

So I ask for your kindness. I ask for your prayers. And I ask for your encouragement as I carry on in my publishing journey.

Because it’s time.

Because this season is my season to be me and who God created me to be in the midst of our journey with our family and mental health and special needs and all of that.

I am still me.

I am still here.

I am a writer.