Partially Empty Nest Means I Should Write Again

I haven't completed writing a novel since before I studied to become an Emergency Medical Technician in 2009. I took the class and joined a volunteer rescue squad with my then 16 year old daughter. I subsequently got a part-time job in a hospital emergency room. My parents passed in 2010 and I reevaluated my time commitments and resigned from both the volunteers and the hospital. I realized being an Emergency Medical Technician was a bucket list item from childhood and I was glad I did it. But it wasn't my calling. I'm still waiting to decide what I want to be when I grow up. If I grow up.

Our yellow Labrador Retriever had a long slow decline over eighteen months. He could not walk and was incontinent. I can't tell you the amount of time, patience and love our family gave him round the clock. My husband finally consented to letting him go to heaven for the New Year. It's amazing how much time we now have, not constantly washing comforters, towels and rugs, or lifting him into his wheel chair every two hours.

My son graduated from college in 2013 and landed a part-time IT job for a small family business, while he was applying for full time jobs. He finally was hired as a conductor in the railroad industry he's loved since childhood, when he became enchanted with Thomas the Tank Engine. His job is hundreds of miles away, so he is officially out of the house.

Our daughter is a college graduate and has a job she loves, but doesn't make much money. She's saving for a down payment on a house. She'll probably be living with us until she marries someday.

My husband works shift work, so he is gone a few days at a time, then is home a couple days on a rotating schedule.

We have a puppy who will turn two in the spring.

I realize I need something to do besides running and going to yoga at the gym. I don't really want to get another job outside the home. But I do need something to do.

It's time to write again. I'm scared of the built-in rejection from friends, agents, publishers and readers. I want my muse to find a passion to disregard rejection and write the story I need to tell.