The last words Jon said to me before he turned and walked to the door all the missionaries exit through after saying goodbye to their families at the MTC were: "Write that book while I'm gone."

(Gee whiz! I thought I could write this without tearing up!) *wipes eyes, sniffling*

Easier said than done, I've learned. For some books, perhaps most, it takes a lot of time if you want to do the best you can and make the setting and character backgrounds as authentic as possible. There's research involved and maybe a trip or three to whatever locales your story takes place in if you've never been there before. In addition, it takes a lot of patience, perseverence and dedication.

For many, many years it has been a dream of mine--ever since I first discovered I love writing--to write and publish a novel. For quite a number of those years it was going to be a fantasy involving unicorns and goblins mainly. I haven't given up on that idea; it's just been put on the back burner for now. In truth, I almost gave up on this dream.

I think I just heard a collective gasp of horrified shock from everyone who knows me well.

It's true, though. I've been going through a phase where I'm struggling to find inspiration, to find the passion I once had for the ideas I do have already, to battle and to conquer the impatience I begin to feel if a piece takes longer than I planned and/or if it veers from the course I want it to take. Right now, four pieces--my Medusa myth, the Greek tragedy/myth, a Samhain/Edgar Allan Poe piece and a piece for my Faraway Tree adventure--have all been started, but have yet to be finished. I've lacked the enthusiam to pick them back up. And that's a key ingredient when writing a novel...or anything, for that matter.

But. Emma's planted an idear in my head I can't quite dislodge, nor do I want to try. *smiles*

"Why don't you do an anthology with the legends you have on your [blog]?" she suggested in the last week or so.

Hmmm, an anthology of legends and myths... The idea did have appeal. After all, they're one of my favorite genres in literature. I find them fascinating: how some were attempts by the ancients to explain the mysteries of the universe they struggled to understand; how similar many of them are, showing a migration of and/or an interaction with other peoples from different cultures; and how the fairy tales went from being adult to children's stories. I guess it stems from an interest in anthropology and archaeology. For I do love learning about other cultures and peoples, especially from the ancient times.

At first I was unsure because most of the fairy tales I have on here are cut and pasted from several sites I found. Who would be interested in yet another reprint of fairy tales or myths from around the world? I questioned. And is the market big enough to merit doing this?

But I couldn't shake the idea. I was still doubtful about the usage of the classic fairy tales, but as I began scouting around Amazon.com checking out the market for the genre and who the publishers were, a new twist to the idea came to mind: people are revamping the classic myths, legends and fairy tales, and I've already posted two original ones here and have at least two more in mind, so why not put those into an anthology?

The more I've played with this new angle, the more I like it. So...this is my main goal for this year. To get this project meaningfully headed towards publication. *bites lower lip* Hopefully, I will have something to show for when Jon gets back.

Thanks Emma, for the idea and for being an editor. And thank you, Debbie, for agreeing as well. This means a lot to me. Wish me luck.

moon phase