It’s been more than a year since my last post. One might be wondering what progress I’ve made on the book. It has been slow going. I currently have almost 27,000 words. It seems like a lot…until you consider the average word count for a book of this type. That would be 80,000 words.

Suddenly it feels like I’m just past the starting line. This is where discouragement and frustration set in.

After a nice break of enjoying a lot of heart-warming family time over Thanksgiving and Christmas, I am refreshed. A new year starts, and it’s time for new goals. That always quickens my pulse.

I come back to the book. And I thank God for how He has had His hand on it from the beginning.

• Through Rick’s statement that I should “write a book, make a million dollars and retire”, He got me started…and excited!
• Through the writer’s conference He got me moving with some plans.
• When He spoke to me that Sunday morning, He prompted me to put more effort and time into it.
• He patiently waited when I bogged down in the process over the next year (80,000 words is a lot of writing!)
• When the new year came upon us, He stirred me once again to get serious about getting a first draft completed. How can I possibly tackle this mountain, I wondered?
• And then He sent Molly Ovenden, my new writing coach. I was hoping to finish a first draft in twelve months; she helped me create a plan to complete it in two months.

I am excited at the possibility and am diving in. I have set a goal. A high goal, but hopefully doable.

However, as is typical for me, there always seems to be a snag when I start a huge new thing. Last year it was the day I started a new eating plan to improve my health. The first day I started, I received a phone call that my husband had been shot in a hunting accident. Thankfully, he was miraculously spared any serious injury. And I went on to lose 50 pounds with the new eating plan.

This time it was news that my father-in-law appears to have a cancer that he will not survive. After a chaotic evening of text messages and phone calls with the family, and shedding a few tears with my husband, I’m back at it.

Just write. That’s what writers do. I am up at 5:00 am (full disclosure – more like 5:12 am after hitting the snooze a couple of times), and I fire up the PC.

And my PC is frozen.

Does it feel like there’s an enemy trying to stop me? Oh, yeah.

It’s not going to work. At least not today. I pulled out a pen and a pad of paper and started writing. One way or another, I’m pushing through.