I never realized what a toll that writing would take on me mentally. I am currently working on two stories and some assorted poetry. It takes an emotional drain, that's for sure. I have bared my soul in some of the pages and recollected a lot of feelings and events that I never thought would rise to the surface. I have also had to do a lot of soul-searching on my writing journey. It has forced me to come to accept a lot of things about myself. It has been cathartic, to say the least. I am so grateful for the support I've gotten during this time as I have been taking a lot of time to reflect on my personal life. I have been taking more moments of solitude than I thought I would need and it's to the detriment of the life that continues around me. Some of the greatest writers of our age were off their rockers, Sylvia Plath, Stephen King, (With all due respect!),etc. At least I know that I fit in some capacity when it comes to my mental state. I have had to dig deep beneath my roots to pull out all these feelings, just bleeding it out onto the paper. I don't know if it is a structural or an accurate way of writing but, I don't really have outlines. I have not been planning the fate of characters, I have just been writing things down as they come to me. I have always been of the spontaneous spirit, impulsive, compulsive, and obsessive. I hope that whenever I do finally open myself up to the world with my writing, that it can have some sort of positive impact. The subject matter is very intense, but I wouldn't be who I am if I produced anything less than that. My writing is also not for the small-minded, it takes a lot of acceptance and also some grit to get through these pages forthcoming. I know, I've had to read and re-read these pages over and over, editing, rewriting, scrapping, and chucking a lot too. This is definitely an experience.