The Writing Journey Brick By Brick: Update #1

Background Info

This is the first post of this kind. It has been over eight years since I began dabbling with putting this “big life-changing story” to paper. It started as stories about triathlon but quickly morphed into a woven narrative of triathlon metaphors symbolic of the meaning behind the meaning.

I then handed some of those stories to my dear friend, but without telling him, I wrote them. And he enjoyed them. This was hard to believe because who am I to write stories? I can hardly finish a book. I switch up words in common phrases; I leave out letters… I am certainly not someone who excelled in literature classes, though I always wrote excellent essays. This was the first time I considered pursuing writing at a higher level. I scoped out CCA’s Writing program, though I had significant doubts about whether I would get accepted. But alas, I did, and with butterflies in my stomach and heaps of self-doubt, I walked into the writer’s studio and sat at the table. 

A two-year program was interrupted not just by my decision to end a seven-year relationship, then meeting the man with whom I would have my daughter, a pandemic, and…another separation. I finally got to hold my MFA degree in my hand in the spring of 2022 with most of my manuscript written, though still very much in the rough.

So what about Brick By Brick? 

It has gone through many, many integrations. It is safe to say that the book was and probably will be until the very last word is written, still finding itself, though I know where it is headed and am fast-tracking this now. It wasn’t until very recently that I stepped into the light and embraced this project.

I have been haunted by the feeling of having to be more, or something else, to be fulfilled and “successful” and to be a writer and author. I thought I had to write the book while also being more. However,  embracing the artist’s role and the gift I have been given to pursue my passion for wordsmithing and return to illustration took a lot of trial and error and courage to lean into. The fact is that I don’t have to be anything but myself to do this.

A “lovely” side product to ADHD is the ability to think more can be accomplished at the same time and a type of blindness to how much work it takes and most certainly the actual time it takes to be completed. Well, now that I have leaned in, I see that the goal of traditional publishing is a full-time job if done right. 

So you will hear/see a lot more of me now as I push marketing to find my niche while simultaneously polishing up my manuscript to be ready for select readers.