I wanted to write young adult fantasy fiction because I needed to see a protagonist that had a complicated relationship with food.
Ironically, I fought this. The idea came & then I avoided it. For a long time. “It’s just too much” I told myself, “No one is going to want to read that.” The truth is I wasn’t ready to write it. I wasn’t ready to hear her story.
It’s taken me 3 years to sit with this story. Circling it. Leaving it. Coming back. Gaining her trust & building my own self trust. You might say all this wasted time but it couldn’t have been any different. It's exactly what was needed.
The photo below is the single line, the vision of the premise of the story, clearer than I'd ever seen it up until that time. February 2023.
October 2023: I'm proud of how far the concept has grown but I'm still struggling. There are still parts of the story I'm afraid to look at, afraid to tell, not ready to witness yet, or those aspects don't feel ready yet to come forward. Maybe all of the above.
Reminding myself, what's the rush?
Don’t force it. ✨