2017 in the Rear View Mirror

January has almost come and gone! Usually, it’s the longest month of the year for me. I dread the long, dark and cold days. I’m especially glad to see 2017 in the rearview mirror of my life. It had every obstacle to my writing going: a car accident recovery physio? Check! Serious illness? Check! Broke my arm and needed a 90-degree cast from upper arm to fingertips? Check! More physio? Check! Debilitating cluster migraines? Check! Son’s accident with a catastrophic ankle break requiring orthopedic surgery and four-month recovery? Check!

            Oh yes, 2017 definitely *stank*. I started last January with the car accident pain and physio but with that most coveted email from an editor “I’d love to see the full manuscript when it’s finished.” And then–life happened. But still, I wrote that book. I took all year, but I finished it and submitted it. That became my over-riding goal for the year. My total focus. She may yet toss it in the digital scrap heap–I have no idea.

            Lest you, probably the only person reading this blog post, think I’m bragging, I’m not. I had a ton of support. Not in the writing although I do have a lovely critique partner. I had an online group of fellow unpublished authors cheering me on. My church delivered meals to us when I broke my arm, and when my son broke his ankle. My husband put up with me still talking about “my story” even as he wondered why I was even bothering when so much time had passed since her request.

            This doesn’t end with the wonderful news I’ve sold the book. It ends with the point that when crud happens in your life, you can choose NOT to let it take away your dreams. I recommend NOT writing during times of deep crisis, like my son’s accident. He needed me 24/7 nursing him–for that finite period. But, I knew when it was time to get back on the computer and finish the last four chapters of “my story”. We choose how we respond to what happens to us. We choose our thoughts, we choose our actions. It takes a lot of adults a long time to learn that, and some of us never do.
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            So, for 2018, I’m continuing to choose “my story”. To write what God puts on my heart and in my mind. He put me on this journey and showed me that this time in my life is “my” time. How about you? What season of life are you in? What challenges are you facing going in to 2018?