Routine.

It is something you do every day without much thinking about it, but what if there was a break in that? Jacqueline - the lead character - has been living the same pattern for as long as she can remember under the care of some unseen caregiver. She’s woken up at the same hour to polite tapping at her bedroom door. She eats a breakfast that is served in uniform fashion. Heck, whoever is taking care of her isn’t even kind enough to give her some flavored cream! Granted. Our heroine isn’t even sure what french vanilla tastes like anymore.

Then one night things change. The routine is broken and Jacqueline finds herself on an adventure to find herself once again. Even if that ’self’ isn’t much of a person to begin with...

;)

Hello readers!

I really don’t have much of a sample yet. Well, most of the first draft of Routine is finished, but just in need of some clean up before I present it to you. It’s a novel of shorter sizing, yet it promises to explore a character and question what strength really is. Especially in the mind of someone filled with self-doubt and anxiety. Considering it’s meant to be a bit of psych-horror, I don’t want to explain some of the themes right now in fear of spoiling the tale! So let’s distract with a bit about moi.

How many writing projects have I started and left unfinished? At least three? Maybe four? Heck, pretty sure it’s been more than that by now. Each one that began was intended to finish, but it never happened. Life was too busy. School was too distracting. Work was overburdening. There’s a lot of factors, but each fantastic idea got flushed down the toilet the more real life came into play. In that time the anxiety has gotten worse and the depression has damn near swallowed me up! So Routine became an idea that stuck in my head and I’ve been pushing myself to finish.

The first draft for the story began in June or July, and now - past Midway in August - it has reached past it’s midway point and is finally working towards the climax. What began as a short story had literally became a novella! Each time a thousand words happen, part of me feels elated from the pressure of my own demons! In writing Jacqueline - whose facing her own demons - I’ve managed to face my own and grow as a person as well so that now decisions are being made to improve my life. A lot of those decisions are hard of course. All choices are hard when you make them; especially when the shadow of "severe anxiety" looms over you.

So I will finish this story in yet another step for myself, and hope people will enjoy reading it as well.

Side note: The preview chapter is being worked on and brushed up for reading. It should be out either 8/21 or sometime before labor day. Right now, I am juggling packing up things for a move to Texas and a full time job at Amazon (warehouse) here in Pennsylvania.