I have been away from this blog for years. I am dusting it off and giving this tiny speck of the internet a focused direction. In the years since my last post I have moved from Japan back to the United States. I have also started working on writing a novel.

In 2014 I had a bad year. I got lost in my brain, and anxiety had the worst grip it has held on me so far in my life. My husband was unaware how to help, and at first made insensitive suggestions. He didn’t deter, and one day handed me a book with hundreds of writing prompts. I flipped through the book and found a couple that sparked ideas. There was one story I wrote about a girl from the future writing a letter to our present day. She was in the aftermath of a major attack and was frantically attempting to reach out for help from the people who could help her, us. It was a fun mental exercise to write that short story. When my husband read it, he was hooked. He had to know what was happening to the girl from the future. I sat on this story for a couple years. This year I picked the story up again and it began to grow in size before I realized I was unwittingly beginning a novel. It didn’t take me long to realize I would need to add organizing strategies that worked for me to keep track of the plot. I got a notebook and filled it with character bios, timelines, research, and vocabulary lists. Eventually I ended up with a timeline on a wall and a virtual mind map. I am in the middle of hashing out the first draft of this story. Trying hard every day not to give up on this project. Also knowing that the shadows of editing are looming in the future if I continue with this journey.

Through all of this I am thankful for the unexpected therapy writing has brought me. I am thankful for friends who are filled with positive encouragement and for making new friends in writing groups. Join me in my journey, I could sure use the support.