The good thing is that I write all the time, every day at least a little bit.

I read somewhere that people who write should NEVER pay attention to the reaction of their own families to their work. Just write and let the others be damned!

However, I have been guilty of this for the last 8 years. It paralyzed my writing when my family reacted with embarrassment about my book Ahead of the Curve.? One of my daughters was so mortified I could not even discuss it in her presence. I could not mention the fact of writing. Ever.

I really was sad and concerned and ?stopped in my tracks? by the fact that it upset her so much. Writing seemed like this evil thing that I must quit to save my family embarrassment. That was wrong.

Sometimes I think of myself as such a ?slow learner?.? And though my family accuses me of being a contrarian, there are many instances where I have simply changed what I wanted to do because of my family. It is true that sometimes I react contrarily to some suggestion or event. Certainly, my first reaction to any doctors diagnosis is: Let me check on that and do it my way! or even ?Hell no!? (when some physician prescribes drugs for things that can be corrected with lifestyle changes.)

Where my family is concerned, their happiness comes before my own in most cases. This maternal effacing of self seems pretty normal to me. Yet, my children are middle-aged and it is time they learned to deal with my natural desire to live my own life. Though I am far from free technically, because I am living with my 99 year old mother, my time is sometimes my own. In those hours, I write. Originally I did it to save my sanity. Now, it is because the creative juices awakened with a vengeance and will not be put back to sleep.

It was a terrible mistake to let my children influence me in a way that stopped the creative outlet that I crave the most.? I will not make the same mistake twice.

So, kids, LOOK OUT! Mama is writing again and she is not stopping for anybody!!!