In high school I won an award for an essay I wrote about my life. In my twenties I wrote a newspaper column, a book of essays and a screenplay. I loved the excitement of a new idea, a new sentence, a revised sentence and a completed project. I was writing a lot and was thrilled when, on rare occasion, I even got a paid to do it.

But then one day the creativity stopped flowing and the idea well ran dry. Writing wasn’t paying the bills so I had found a job that did. I was writing less and less until one day I wasn’t writing at all.

Fast forward to ten years, one house, one husband and two kids later. Seemingly out of nowhere the creative juices started flowing again. And they aren’t just flowing, it’s like Niagara Falls. I’m writing my ideas down as fast as I can keep up with them while primarily focusing on one project – a children’s picture book series about travel.

In her book Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert discusses how creativity will be there for you if you are willing to cultivate it but if you don’t give it the attention it needs then it will move on. But, if you are lucky, one day it will come back to you. She specifically says “The idea will not leave you alone until it has your fullest attention.”

This is exactly what I’m going through! My ideas are pleasantly nagging me to develop them and I couldn’t be more excited. It’s as though the past ten years they had been buried somewhere deep inside me and are suddenly becoming unleashed. I didn’t realize how much I missed the craft until I started getting that creative spark again.

So here I am, fresh off a ten year hiatus with a renewed excitement for writing. Since I’ve been away for so long I feel like a girl that transferred to a new high school. I’m joining this incredible community of writers but I don’t know a soul. I would love to connect with any writers/agents/editors so if you’re up for showing the new girl around the industry I would love to hear from you. My email is authormissymack {at} outlook {dot} com and I can be reached on twitter at   @authormissymack.