My Year as a Writer.

The year is nearly over, and reflecting on the achievements that I accomplished this year. The trials and triumphs, the ups and downs. Looking back I would never realise that this would happen. 2016 will go down as my breakthrough year.

The blogs I have written on my journey, each summarising what is happening in my life; how could I rehash this? Depression, anxiety, love lost, self-sabotage, the death of a sister and isolation from friends and family. Finishing my manuscript, meeting fellow writers, book launches, learning, Writers Activation, Gold Coast Novel Writers, Ocean Reeve, being published, my mother and all the people who have been there for me.

Juggling being a full-time author and full-time carer has been hard. There have been times that I failed at both of them over the year. Sometimes it is, me coping with my mother’s extreme pain or discomfort or the self-sabotage of my writing. Staying positive on every front can be tiring, you have many goals to accomplish and it feels like a massive wall that you can never overcome. Sometimes it is easier to break through the wall than to climb it. Like my friend and mentor, Ocean Reeve says ‘It’s time to think outside the box.’ That is what this year was about, not living in that box but breaking through to my future.

When I started this journey, I never thought I would be here. Everything I have begun, I have failed or given up. We have so many reasons to give up, and it takes strength to say No! I want this! I can do this! I am a f’ing author!

The writers I have met have been a great influence on me, Joan, Russell, Claire, Angela, Colleen, Ricky, Helen, Richard, Livia, Karen, Jennifer and many more who have touch my creativity. Each has imparted some wisdom on my writing path. One of the first advice I received was ‘Do you write? Then you are a writer.’ This statement is so true and has motivated me into supporting and encouraging other authors, writers, artists, musicians and poets to becoming what they want to be.

As I am writing this, on the television there is a morning show talking about depression. My mother and I both suffer from depression. As we discuss this, it is hard to describe what it is like, but one thing the people of tv, my mother and myself can say; sometimes you just don’t want to get out of bed. For everyone who suffers from this horrible condition, just take each day and work through that day. Find help, find support. Create small, achievable weekly goals for yourself, and you can make it.

2017 will be a year of reckoning for me, I will have a book published, I will be doing book tours at Supanova and Oz comic con. I will meet new people, in and out of the fantasy genre. Even saying this, the fight will continue, that wall will be broken down, the sky is the limit, and I am an author!