Reclaiming myself

It's been five months since Mali joined our family and I'm beginning to think we are out of the worst of the weeds of adjustment for our family.

How do I know that?

Simple, I have an undeniable urge to be creative, more specifically, to write. To put words to my thoughts, to put a pen on to paper, to create.

Lately, I've been doing something crazy: revisiting that part of my creative self.

After the day is done
the toys are picked up
the tantrums are over
most little people are quiet in their beds,
I've done something brave:

I've tried to be a writer.

Most nights I fail miserably, in that I'm so tired that I can't create a coherent thought. Last night I did a five minute warm-up and that was the extent of the thinking my brain could handle.

But I tried. And that counts.

However, it's time to reclaim some balance in my life, where I am more than just the mother of a traumatised toddler, a homeschool mom, a stay-at-home mom. Because I am also a wife.

And I am a writer!!

To help start along the reclaiming journey, I get the wonderful privilege of attending the Maranatha Christian Writer's Conference in Muskegon, Michigan. (thanks Daddy!) Tonight I leave for 48 hours of writerly thinking, learning, crafting, and writing. I will hopefully make new friends, be bombarded by more ideas than possible to write on, and be encouraged to keep on.

It's a scary step--it feels safer to stay in my crazy world than it is to venture out into the world of thinking adults.

But I'm doing it.

My synopsis and samples are fresh off the printer. A clean copy of my completed manuscript is printing as we speak.

I ordered and received my new personal/business cards in the mail earlier this week.

I think I'm ready. Let's go!