Twelve Things I Know

Last summer writer Susan Tweit posted on her blog "Ten Things To Be Thankful For" at a difficult time in her life. She said sometimes when we are stuck in our writing it is helpful to make a list. At that time I had kicked my writing into high gear, but felt I was making little headway. I sat down one night and wrote a list on a pad of paper about writing my book. I ran across that list tonight and decided to share it on my blog--both as a reminder to me and to encourage others. (My ten things ended up being twelve.)

Twelve Things I Know

1. Writing a book is totally overwhelming.

2. I have a great story.

3. I am committed to it.

4. I have more research to do.

5. I've found my writing style.

6. I have enough information to write the book.

7. I have great support from my family and friends.

8. I have an editor who is very interested in the book.

9. My prologue sets the stage for the book.

10. I will have to rewrite everything!

11. Life happens.

12. I WILL FINISH THIS BOOK.

As of tonight, the prologue is still the only part of the book completed. I wrote "Life happens" without knowing that one month later my mother-in-law, Helene, would go into the hospital and spend a month on the edge of life and death. She is home now after two months of rehab. But she has a long road to travel with much support needed from her family. Life happens.

The research piece is still happening, too. Last week I went to Google Books and started typing in names. I must say I was shocked to find that two of the cases I'm researching went to the Colorado Supreme Court. The court upheld the County Court's rulings. I should have been thrilled to find this, but I felt overwhelmed. If I missed this big piece of the puzzle, what other big pieces am I overlooking. But I also remembered this is a treasure hunt and each treasure comes when it is ready to be found and when I am ready to find it. Tomorrow I am going to the State Archives to look at the Colorado Supreme Court Cases.

I have added Twitter to my blog in the right-hand column. Twitter is a social network where you answer the question, "What are you doing now?" in 140 characters or less. I thought I'd just Twitter what I was doing with the book and research, but I've decided to go ahead and share what I'm doing at other times. Now you will know why the book isn't finished yet!