If you’ve been following my much-neglected blog, you’ll know that I’ve been mostly absent for some time. You probably also know I’ve been swamped with a major move from Georgia to Maryland and all the pressures and demands such an endeavor entails.

I managed to keep writing through the showings and sale of our home in Georgia, but after that everything happened fast. There was no energy left over for anything other than getting moved, finding a new home (while living in a hotel with two large dogs and an elderly cat), arranging for new utilities and services, and finally moving in. Then the settling-in began.

During this seemingly forever, three-month process, I experienced an almost total lack of interest in writing. The publication of “Gamble On Love” in New Love Stories Magazine back in January and a nice fat February “pass” from Susan Litman at Silhouette on the latest manuscript she’d requested were blatant reminders that my life is more than hanging pictures, purchasing furniture, accessorizing and putting color on walls. I’m a writer.

About two weeks ago, I checked on a story submitted a year ago and discovered it had never been received. I resubmitted it and felt a little giddy. I began to think of the stories I have waiting to be finished, the characters I’d left hanging, silently waiting to get their HEA’s. Despite the fact I was under the gun to get the house as livable as possible before my adult children came home for a visit, I began to sneak a few moments here and there to plan and set goals, to refresh my memory of what I needed to accomplish this year. Characters began to nudge me, one couple louder and more insistent than the others.

Finally, our house reached the livable stage. Maybe not the lived-in look as yet, seeing there’s still lots of painting to be done, drapes to be purchased and hung, and finishing touches here and there, but the house is functional and fairly comfortable as it is. Yay!!! My children arrived, we enjoyed each other, and they flew back to their respective homes. After dropping them off at the airport, I ran errands and refilled the fridge.

Back home, my characters nudged me as I finished up my blog for Monday at Petit Fours and Hot Tamales. During light housework and baking a cake they begin to get huffy. Once things got quiet last night, I returned to my new office, sat at my lovely new desk, opened a story and began to write. By many standards, it was not a blockbuster night. But later, with a full page added, I headed for bed.

So I’m happy to report that the writing bug has returned and within me, a sigh of contentment lingers.