Writing this feels like meeting up with a friend I haven’t seen for a few years and throwing into an evening’s catch-up everything that has happened in the intervening time!
It’s been one of those challenging periods, years of one big life challenge after another, of learning to let go in order to make new starts, and then doing it all again. Not everything went as I expected but along the way I’ve enjoyed new experiences, discovered things I never knew about myself; I’ve made new friends and, what has been a real pleasure, rediscovered old friendships. People have been unexpectedly, generously kind and supportive, but pushed me too when I’ve needed it.
Such a disruptive time has impacted on my writing although the desire, the passion to write and to create has never left me, it has been hard to find the emotional energy I need to write my characters’ stories, to give them life.
I’m putting down fresh roots and I’m hopeful that 2020 is the start of a less turbulent time. I’ve missed writing deeply and I feel the call of my novel gathering energy and urgency.
sarah jackman 