WHAT IS WRITER’S BLOCK?

For years, I have found the early morning darkness a special time of day. Sitting on the deck with steaming coffee and my constant companion Valkyrie, we talk and enjoy the birds, squirrels and deer as they begin their days.  In the cool fall mornings, added to the sounds of occasional trains off in the distance and breeze-rustled leaves are the sounds of apples dropping to feed the deer visitors.

We have two sets of twin fawns, a number of singlets with does of all ages, and an occasional buck that stop by for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is difficult to envision living anywhere but in the peacefulness of Montana with my human and animal friends adding happiness to each day.

As the sun rises high over the Rockies, I begin writing. Now that I am retired from medicine, I have more time to write and finish projects started years ago, but the days aren’t long enough to accomplish my writing goals. Life gets in the way – like mowing the lawn, trimming the bushes, cleaning the house and – you know the rest. We all have chores that never cease, such as doing dishes . I have always been a work-a-holic but I have never, like some, said “Thank god it’s Monday.”  Now that I don’t have daily commitments at the hospital, I have  a list of objectives that will be difficult to meet.

Over the past ten years, I have written a medical murder mystery series (3 completed with 2 more outlined and many more in my head), an intrigue romance set in Alaska with a medical and flying theme, and a soon-completed a bio-thriller. I hope to submit the thriller for publication this year. The rest will be honed and edited in time. I have never experienced “writer’s block.”

If progress is slower than I’d like or the plot needs a twist, I often set it aside and work on something else such as another novel, a blog or a magazine submission. In the background, the plot twists and the characters evolve as I work on other projects. I often miss working on a particular project and am driven to get back to it, as I am today. The bio-thriller is calling to me.

Betty and Valkyrie