Goodbye, for now.

As I lay in bed, attempting to sleep, my mind began racing. It always does this, but I've taught myself to stop it. Instead of taming those thoughts, I finally got out of bed to write. Not just write for me in a journal, but write for everyone who has been a follower, reader, or just a passerby in my life.
         I'm writing to say goodbye for the time being. The blogger world has taken me on a wonderful journey, with several bumps that made me realize that it's time to put a hold on blogging.
        Originally, I had begun writing because I was angry. A new friend responded, well that's not good, when I answered the question of why I started writing. But that anger got me writing again. I'm not angry anymore, but I do want to keep on writing.
         This blog has opened up a lot for me. I've learned about myself. I've learned about my friends, and the people I thought were my friends. I've learned about my family. And most importantly, I've learned about how important love is in life, no matter what type of love it may be.
         This blog helped me. This blog inspired others, which is my main goal through my writing. This blog also had negative consequences. This blog pissed people off. This blog messed some relationships up, while opening my eyes to understand that maybe some relationships weren't as important as I thought they were.
          This blog was a public journal that turned into something more. The positive always outweighed the negative. The compliments drove me to keep writing here, but that should not be the main reason to write. I want to be a novelist, and I will be. I've written short stories and children's books, but never a novel. Well it's time to start that novel.
           In the book God Never Blinks, Regina Brett wrote about someone who inspired her, which has inspired me. Another writer, Annie Dillard, wrote a book that Brett felt should be shared in her book. Here I will share Dillard's advice as written by Brett:

"She advises writers to use all their material now. Don't save an anecdote, paragraph, quote, beginning or ending for some better novel or poem or short story you plan to write sometime in the future. The fact that you want to use it means you should.

It takes an act of faith. You have to trust that once you use up the good stuff, more good stuff will appear. The well will fill back up."

Well, I have been sitting on some good ideas for a while now. I actually have a running list in my phone of stories I want to write. Stories I want to finish. So instead of writing here every day, I will be writing my first of many novels. I will be acting on a dream, a goal, a future acheivement.

            I thank all of you who have inspired me to move forward. I also thank those of you, both new and old in my life, who have been able to give me the push I needed even when I may not have wanted to hear it. And to all my avid blogger friends, I will still read yours even when I'm not writing here.

            Thank you, and goodbye for now.