IWSG ~ Life Changes

I usually keep my Insecure Writer Support Group post to a short nod of the chin and shake of the head. But this month, I must deviate from my norm. There's something I need to write about, something from real life, and I figure if any group would understand it will be this one. (If you'd rather not read the post in its entirety I totally understand. Just scroll to the bottom and answer this month's designated question. I'd love to hear your answer.)

Writers often take from their own experiences or those they've witnessed, kneed them a little, and then use them in their stories or even as simple inspirations and motivations for story. Well, I've had life hand me plenty of writing material lately; so much so that I should have ten new books written. That is, if I had the time.

2018 was rough, with my mom moving into a nursing home. It was a life change for my dad, my brother, and myself and one that bled into my own little family of husband, four kids, an old pooch, and three kittens. And you know when you think you can't take anymore and you're like Nothing more can happen . . . and then it does? Yeah, that's where I've been since December 3rd when my father-in-law was admitted into the hospital with pneumonia and a UTI. Like my mom, he also suffers from mild/moderate dementia. Up until that day he was driving and getting around with my mother-in-law just fine. 

But now, he's still in the hospital. Yup, you read that correctly. It's been nine weeks. His condition has gotten better and then worse to where it pushed him into a diagnosis of Delirium. I didn't know that was an actual thing, but it is. And just before he got sick, we'd adopted a new German Shepherd puppy. *Talk about adding in extras when we didn't need any.*  

Lots of other things have happened in between these weeks, but I won't get into those except to say that they have eaten every stinking bit of my writing time, not to mention my inspiration and motivation to start my next middle grade book. And with this new spooky middle grade group I'm part of and all the extra social media exposure we're getting, this is a perfect time to buckle down and write a new MG. I have started three separate novels. But each time I sit down (even for fifteen minutes) to write a few lines I freeze up and can only see the mountain of total YUCK that's coming for my in-laws, and the mountain that is creating a new novel from outline to final draft. (My father-in-law will probably end up having to stay in a nursing home, which we can't say to my mother-in-law because she's not ready to face that yet.)

How do you see through all the YUCK life wades before you? I'm normally good at this, but I can't say that this time. I need to rekindle that feeling that writing a new story is fun, kind of like my escape from it all and therapy. LOL 

Thanks for letting me bend your ear. I feel a little better now. Hugs to you and to wherever you are in your writing life. 

Feel free to answer this month's question:

Participants

Besides writing what other creative outlets do you have?

The awesome co-hosts for the February 6 posting of the IWSG are Raimey Gallant, Natalie Aguirre, CV Grehan, and Michelle Wallace!