on Writing and Wellness:

I cried tears of frustration to my husband.
“I have a detailed outline. Why can’t I finish this book?”

“I’m not sure,” he said, “but I do know this: you need to keep at it.” Murray’s gaze zeroed in on my own, his hands on my shoulders. “Right now you need to grab hold of that dog-on-a-bone determination of yours and commit to keep writing and learning and writing some more until you figure it out.”

That was three years ago.

I had just finished writing a detailed outline for the second book in my historical romance series titled, Anchoring Annaveta.

I had even gone so far as to have that ten-page outline critiqued by a professional editor, so I wouldn’t be scrambling as much as I did when I wrote the first book in the series.

Even though the outline did help, I still struggled to finish the book. I panicked at the thought of being stuck, especially when I was passionate to write this story.

A whole lot of worry and questions gnawed at me. Was I just that bad of a writer that I couldn’t pull this story together? Was I lazy? Was I simply not smart enough to figure out how to write it?