Back to Basics: Update on me AND my 5 Minute Freewrite

As many of you know, I have five kids who are mostly grown now. I'm a somewhat unusual parent. in some ways, but these are My Core Values: Parenting

I was a stay at home mom and homeschooled the kids for most of the last 20+ years.

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I also did a few things in amongst homeschooling, like teaching art, drama and fitness classes for the homeschool co-op. I taught Zumba and a few other fitness glasses at a local gym for about 5 years. I also directed, wrote and produced several plays for our local community youth theater.

Now the kids are grown and those things I did with my family during those years are things that I am absolutely not interested in anymore.

For the last 5 years or so, as each child grew up (and eventually OUT) and didn't need me quite as much anymore, I found myself floundering a LOT. It was 'back to basics' for me, but honestly, I didn't even know what "The Basics" even were. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my time day to day, much less what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

I had few things on my "Bucket List" that I hadn't already done and it was seriously starting to really stress me out. I felt adrift and unhappy. At loose ends.

We lived on a boat for a year, my marriage was nearly upended already as part of the whole aforementioned 'floundering about' unsettled thing that was happening to me and the boat life and then being separated from my husband for nearly a year really almost did us in. We hung on, sometimes by the edges of our fingernails, but we managed.

Then we finally made our way back to each other, living in the same country, then the same town, then the same house again. (That whole ordeal is a LONG ass story.)

THEN I found steemit. THEN I found #freewrite group and THEN things became clear.

I LOVE to write. I love the way stories just pour out of me when I'm not trying so hard to figure things out. I love watching characters grow out of nothing as the words appear on the page.

I feel like I've found my passion again. I am not really making money at it yet, but I have hope that I CAN... and that hope for my own life, my own passion and my own purpose is what I was missing.

So, there you have it. I have a goal of figuring out how to make money with my writing. Be it copywriting/freelancing or by selling fiction online, finishing up that novel length story and self publishing... whatever happens, it's good.

Now if I can just keep the writing thing going while I'm ALSO working for actual right now kind of money to help keep us afloat, that will be a bonus. I need all the luck I can get, because I'm finding it a bit difficult to keep this up when I'm also looking for work and working on other money making ventures outside of here.

That's my freewrite AND my update for today. Another peek into my world.

Patrick Hive account@serapium keeps promising he'll finish writing the rest of Our Not So Romantic Wedding story as well, but he's been busy as can be as well! Look at what he's been doing!

BTW: My husband can do anything. He's so amazingly awesome. Just a few of the jobs he's done in the last month... He's INCREDIBLE! :) He's also installed a home theater, did a ton of remodeling work for a new barbershop, redid the floors and shelving for a liquor store, put together a playset in crazy fast time, built a huge fire pit thing for a client, replaced struts on a car... ummmm... other remodeling stuff for people's rental houses. I mean, the man can do anything. He's currently waiting on a city building permit to finish the enclosed sun porch.