Blog #4: Inspiration

I mentioned in my last post that my novel draft languished for months, and I only started revising again in October. There's a very specific reason for that.On October 11, my friend Becky Allen's first novel, Bound by Blood and Sand, came out. I read Becky's manuscript in its very very early infancy, when we were in a writing group together. I enjoyed the hell out of it, but then I left to live in Japan for 2 years before she ever finished it.This year, the book came out and I bought it the day it was released! I devoured it that weekend, was thrilled to see the cast of characters fully-formed and developed, and glad to know what happened to them. I'm already eager for the sequel. Becky even included me in her acknowledgments - I'm not sure I deserved it, but it still made me feel honored and proud.Becky blazed the trail ahead for me. I obviously don't know how long it'll be before I see a book of mine in print (if ever), but holding her book in my hands made it feel like I could achieve that dream for myself, too. I opened my book draft again, took the plunge and bought Scrivener, and have been ploughing away ever since. Shortly thereafter I created this website, as my guilty indulgence.As a friend of a friend and a former writing group partner, Becky has brought the novelist dream a little closer to me, and inspired me to give Anna & Evgenia another shot.  <3