Has it really been two years?  I suppose blogging has dimmed as the fad and become a simple staple around the internet.  Facebook and Twitter are the new methods by which we communicate.  These venues have forced us to communicate in succinct thoughts--probably good considering the investment required to follow and keep up with blogs.

I like writing though, so I'd like to continue blogging--if that's okay with you.

I'm going to discuss writing in a moment, but first, I need to mention that I made my little girl, Sadie, laugh for the first time in her life last night.  It's an amazing feeling.  Just as my son, Caleb, changed my life, so has she.  I love my little girl.

As for writing, I had a catastrophe a little over a year ago when my computer died unexpectedly.  The computer had all my writing--notes, back story, drafts, character profiles, etc.  I wasn't worried, though, because I had a backup hard drive where I'd stored everything, just in case.

I booted up another computer, plugged in my hard drive, and received an error telling me that the drive was unreadable.  That's when I was struck with a terrible sick feeling.  All was truly lost.  Years of work were simply gone.  This is where my writing career met with an abrupt end.

Since that time, I was able to recover elements of work I had done over the years.  I'd saved some on Google Docs, some on other computers, and found some in emails I'd sent.  I did a lot of thinking, however, and realized that maybe it was a blessing rather than a curse.  It was an opportunity to start over.

Using my memory of what I'd developed, I set fresh words down.  I circumvented all the critically flawed story elements by writing the story again, from scratch.  Again, I've restarted my drafts several times, like usual, but to me it always feels like progress.  I'm in love with the story so far, again, and I think that the improvement over the old story is significant.

My characters are clearly defined.  I've never felt more sure about them than I do now.  I've outlined the entire story, for the first time ever.  I have a clear set of motivations, a solid idea for where to take the series, and I'm feeling the writing bug again (a major breakthrough considering that I wasn't sure I'd ever go back).

I'll try to update here as I progress.  As I've said in several prior posts, writing here helps me a lot.  It feels good to get words down, no matter the outlet (unless I'm filling out a form or something).

Wish me luck.