This is K.M. Wyland and you are listening to the 613th episode of the Helping Writers Become Authors Podcast. I hope you enjoy this week's episode five tips for how to return to

writing after a long break.

Returning to writing after a long time away can feel overwhelming or even bewildering. Depending on your reasons for your break, you may be confronting a wide array of emotions, everything from anticipation and excitement to trepidation and confusion.

If you find yourself worried or uncertain about how to proceed, the first

step is simply to acknowledge those feelings.

As you may know, I recently returned to fiction writing after a lengthy break.

My break was precipitated by the stress of a difficult life circumstances combined with writers block from a complicated story.

The first few years of my break were filled with lots of fighting with myself about the fact that I should be writing, the last few years were spent

in what I called a conscious sabbatical. Needless to say, rediscovering the desire to write

was a long and arduous journey full of unforgettable vistas and plenty of plot twists.

I had lived through four years and two moves. I wasn't the same person as when I last set down the pin.

So much difficulty in pain had surrounded my writing during those years that even though I now wanted to write and was ready to

write I knew I would have to carefully reintroduce myself to the process I would have to be willing to not just remember how I used to do things, but also to discover and invent brand new approaches.

I share this episode today not just because it is pertinent to where I am in my own

writing journey, but because I received a request from Annette Taylor on the same subject.

My question is, how to start writing again after time away. I took care of my mom and was

too exhausted to write. Now I worked and still have no time but an hour or two on Saturday. Where do I start? I forgot half the knowledge I learned

when I first started. I am writing but something is missing. Should I give up?

Now for starters I will say that only an individual can determine what is right for his or her circumstances. But if you decide the time isn't right or may never be right to return to your writing, that

isn't giving up. Rather, I would say you are choosing to embrace change. You are choosing to be

be present with who you are now and to nurture that person

until it is time for the next change.

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