Like a new house. Mine.
2015 poses an array of new beginnings for me. This spring I will retire from my psychology practice, ending forty years of sharing my patients’ journeys, to start a journey of my own. My husband and I are moving to the beautiful South Carolina Low Country, land of salt marshes and Spanish moss (and warmer winters).
The slab you see in the photo is our new home. It’s the first shot in what will be a series of weekly updates our builder will send so that we can watch the house grow. Not much to look at now, but in my imagination, it’s beautiful.
It’s the same way with writing a novel. You have some sketchy ideas to serve as a foundation. You outline, erect the scaffolding. There’s layers of brick and mortar to build up as you labor through a first draft. Then you get to the fun stuff – the painting, interior design and furnishing details that bring the story to fruition in later drafts.
So here in a cold northeastern January, I’m imagining my beautiful new home, new life and new novel unfolding under friendly southern skies. I hope you’ll come along with me on the journey.