I recently had a friend ask me, completely out of the blue, why I gave up on my website. I stuttered, totally surprised by the question.
“Well I – I mean, I… well, I kind of just forgot about it,” I managed to choke out and then blurted, “Plus, it’s not like I’ve had a lot to add.”
I tried to explain that I hadn’t really been writing for awhile. Had I given up on my novel? No, that’s not it. I just… I’ve had a lot of life changes, ok!
I was in grad school, there was family drama and illnesses, I launched a new career, and then, to top it all off, I moved across the country.
Excuses, excuses.
Well, it will please you all to know that I’m back at it! Or maybe it doesn’t. How should I know? And to clarify, by back at it, I mean that I’m writing again. So, I guess I have something to put here on this forgotten website now.
And I’ll have you know that, in January, I wrote a whole chapter. That’s right, you heard me, a whole chapter! Not a very long chapter, mind you, but a chapter nonetheless. But then there was February, March, April…. Let’s just skip over those months (because that’s what I did with my writing) and jump straight into May.
In May, I gave myself a long look in the mirror and thought, you have to get your shit together, Rach. Either get it together, or give up. Well, I don’t want to give up. I want to write. And that was that.
Well, almost. I still lacked the right kind of motivation. I reached out to some writer friends who recommended blocking out a few hours a week where I wasn’t allowed to do anything but write. I think they stole this advice from some famous author, but honestly, what do they know? Nothing. I’m gonna sit in front of my laptop for hours and not do anything else but write? What a joke. I’ll be on my phone within 10 minutes. And that’s even if I turn it off and leave it in the other room. My phone addiction is off-the-wall. But that’s a discussion for another time.
No, no, no. I need accountability partners. So, I searched for a writing group to join in my new city. I’d been missing my writer community since my hiatus due to starting grad school in 2019, and I knew I needed to get myself back into that community. But I didn’t want a critique group, I just needed some likeminded peers to hold me accountable. Well, after days of searching (ok, maybe hours… ok, maybe minutes), I found a group through Meetup and signed up for my first meeting.
And that was it. Really. No, really really. I went to my first meeting back in early May and, not only have met some incredible writers here in the Portland area, but have actually made progress on my novel. REAL progress, guys. For the first time in a long time, I think I might actually get this damn first draft done. So, the answer is yes, there is a new novel coming! I promise.
That’s really it. That’s all I have to update you guys on right now. I will try to be more consistent in updating my website and not forget about its existence again. I’ll try to give you guys a glimpse into my writing process and also little nuggets of what you can expect in my next novel. It may not be consistent, but hey, it’s better than nothing! I guess, anyway.
Rachel Potts 